RRWBY: Vale
by Rocketiermaster
Summary: WARNING! SPOILERS FOR RWBY! WATCH THE SHOW FIRST! This is an adaptation of RWBY to writing. And no, the title is not a typo. I changed things, just a bit, adding a few more characters, specifically Rocket. More of an explanation in the Author's note.
1. Author's Note

Hello! This story has been a project of mine for a while now, but, more recently, school has gotten in the way. Since I won't be making anything new for a bit, I decided to reboot the series. A few plot points didn't line up how I wanted them to. But, now that I've planned out the whole series, I can put everything in correctly to line up for it. For instance, I will be putting Volumes 1, 2, and 3 together, Volumes 4 and 5 together, and all of the ones I write will be separate. Also, each one will finally have a cover! And people said keynote couldn't be used for graphic design...

I did not make most of these characters, but I did make Rocket. He was first intended to be me, but that failed when he drifted into the "cool" range.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

POV: Rocket

It was in the last week of Summer, and I was ready for school to start back up. The Summer is boring, hot, and uncomfortable. Personally, I prefer the Winter. Yes, school exists during that time, but at least I am bored and comfortable. I was going through last year's notes (Not like I needed to, I already had most of it memorized, along with next year's material), when I heard a ringing noise in the distance. I grabbed my scythe and left. This night was about to get so much more interesting.

POV: Omniscient

Roman: Give it up, Red! You're surrounded. Just lay down that weapon, and we'll leave you alone.

Of course, both Ruby and Roman knew that: A. He wouldn't let her go and B. She wouldn't surrender

Ruby was surrounded by 12 men in black and red. They all had either a sword or a pistol (most weapons were both). She was studying the men, trying to figure out how she would go about this situation.

Roman: Last chance Red! Lay down the weapon or your de- OW!

That last sound was torn out of him as a black and red blur crashed into him, but, surprisingly, it wasn't Ruby. Roman was sent sliding on the ground for about 10 feet, but Rocket didn't have time to see the results of his work before he was forced to engage with the 12 other robbers standing around Ruby. He was furiously blocking bullets, when Ruby snapped to her senses and joined the attack.

She launched herself, riding the massive amount of recoil from her... scythe? Anyways, she dashed past the henchmen, dragging her scythe behind her. In one stroke, it swept half of the attackers off their feet. Rocket, now free from the onslaught of bullets, split off towards a different group of bad guys. the fight was over in 23 seconds. Ruby knocked out the last man with a kick to the side of his head, and immediately heard Rocket behind her:

Rocket: Hey, where's that guy with the hat?

After frantically looking around for a second, Ruby noticed him climbing the fire escape of a nearby building.

Ruby: Over there!

They did one last check, to make sure that the baddies were still out, and then they ran for Roman. They launched themselves to the top of the building to confront Roman

Rocket: Give it up. You're cornered and the police are on their way.

Roman: Sorry, but I really have to go. I have an important meeting in just a few minutes.

As he said this, a bullplane came up behind him, and he jumped in.

Roman: Give the police my regards!

He reached into his pocket and took out one blood red dust crystal. A fire crystal. He tossed it at Rocket and Ruby.

Roman: Goodbye, reds!

Rocket realized what was about to happen

Rocket: Look out!

Roman lifted his cane up, and fired one single flare directly at the crystal. When it hit the crystal, both violently exploded, leaving a giant cloud of dust (regular, brown dust). When the dust cleared, Roman's jaw hit the floor. They were still alive, and someone was standing over them. Roman turned towards the pilot.

Roman: Huntress!

The pilot got up and ran to the bay of the bullplane, while Roman took the controls. The huntress who had saved Rocket and Ruby suddenly went on the attack. She fired all sorts of magical beams at the bullplane, shaking the plane on impact. Rocket could only watch, since he didn't have a ranged weapon, but Ruby had a gun. She uses her sniper rifle to shoot at the pilot, who was a woman in a glowing red dress. The bullets seemed to do absolutely nothing, as the woman just deflected them with her bare hands. The woman then did a hand motion, and suddenly the floor underneath the huntress, Ruby, and Rocket began to glow. The huntress jumped back, using some sort of telekinesis to pull Ruby and Rocket off of the glowing area. A split second after everyone was safe, the floor exploded! The huntress used telekinesis on the rubble, making a giant pillar of rubble. She began propelling it towards the plane, but the woman shot some sort of fireball at it destroying it. The huntress wasn't done, though. The huntress formed three pillars from the wreckage of the first. The woman on the plane did a few more hand motions, before sending out a burst of purple, causing the rubble to fall to the ground. The bullplane fully pulled away, leaving the huntress, Ruby, and Rocket standing alone on the destroyed roof of the building. The silence went on for a few seconds.

Ruby: Wait, you're a huntress?

The woman looked up and nodded. She physically flinched as Ruby instantly whipped out a pen and held out her scythe, moving way faster than she had at any point during the battle.

Ruby: Can I have your autograph?!

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I hate getting in trouble. Always have. I was more of the teacher's pet type, but back to the story. Ruby and I were sitting in a gray room, with three chairs and a table. The huntress, who we had found out is named Glynda, was pacing back and forth in front of us. She still hadn't given Ruby her signature.

Glynda: Do you have any idea what could have happened? Those were hardened criminals, and you just tried to fight them on your own! If it was up to me, you would get a pat on the head, and a slap on the wrist. Fortunately for you, it's not up to me.

A middle-aged man with gray hair and a black suit came in. The only bit of bright color on him was a green scarf. Upon closer inspection, his suit was not actually block, but a very dark green. He was carrying a plate of cookies in one hand and a scroll, with a video of Ruby and I fighting the henchmen in the other. It was most likely a street recording. He set down the cookies on the table in front of us, and immediately Ruby starting eating them. She had eaten 5 within a few seconds.

Ruby (Muffled): Want one?

Rocket: No, I'm good.

The man sat in the chair across the table from us, just as the video was finishing up.

?: I've only seen one man who can fight like that… Dusty old Qrow…

Ruby: ?at?yu?e?it... *swallows* Sorry... That's my uncle, Qrow!

?: Ah, Ruby Rose, I presume?

Ruby: Yep, that's me!

?: And that would make you Rocket, then?

Rocket: Correct.

?: Now, do either of you know who I am?

Ruby: Nope!

I feel like I had seen his face somewhere before… In a newspaper perhaps? I searched my mind for any reference of his face with a title… Then it dawned on me.

Rocket: You're Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy! I saw your picture in last week's newspaper.

Ozpin: Well, you seem to be an observant one. Yes, I am Ozpin. As I understand it, both of you are aspiring hunstmen in Signal, correct?

Ruby: Yep!

Rocket: That's right.

Ozpin: Well, I see no reason to leave you there. You have obviously learned everything you can from the basics that they teach you. How about I let both of you into Beacon academy a little early?

Rocket: Thank you, sir.

Ruby: Really? Thank you so much!

Even though I acted calm, my mind was absolutely racing. Will I be able to survive going ahead a whole two years in my education? Will I be able to make friends? Who will I meet? Well, there is only one way to find out.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

POV: Rocket

I always loved plane rides, but this one was on a level on its own. When Beacon came into view, it was absolutely beautiful. During the ride, I had learned that Ruby had a sister. Well, half-sister. (They didn't really explain that part) Yang was two years older than Ruby, and had much more of a carefree attitude. While Ruby only took fighting seriously, Yang seemed like she thought everything was a joke. If it wasn't she made it one.

Yang: Wow, this view is just PLANE beautiful!

All: *Groan*

Apparently, that amazing view wasn't for everyone, since one person, a boy in armor, got airsick. Why did he even get on the plane if he knew he was airsick? They gave an option for the train. I guess he didn't see it. When we disembarked, I stayed towards the back of the group, while Ruby and Yang went more in the front. The first one off the plane, though, was that boy in armor, and his first stop was the trash can on the side of the walkway. I was trying to get through the crowd to get back to Ruby, when I noticed Yang walking away and Ruby falling, right into another girl's luggage. The situation quickly escalated before I could arrive, and before I knew it, there was an explosion and Ruby was sent flying back across to the other side of the crowd.

Rocket: Ruby!

?: And who might you be? Her bodyguard?

I turned around. The speaker was the girl who had yelled at Ruby. Somehow, she had only left the explosion lightly blackened.

Rocket: The name's Rocket, and, to be honest, I probably could be, but she doesn't pay me.

Ruby: Hey, that was one time!

Rocket: Wait, how did you get back here so fast?

Ruby: Magic. So anyways, who are you?

Weiss: I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company. Maybe next time you'll remember to watch your to-

?: Hm… The Schnee dust company. They are the main dust production company in remnant, and the whole company is probably worth billions of Lien.

That's weird, I hadn't noticed that girl walk up. She was dress in all black and white; black lowheeled boots, black leggings, white shorts, a white shirt under a single buttoned black sleeveless vest, long black hair, finally topped off with a black bow. The only splash of bright color were her eyes, which were a deep amber color.

Weiss: That's right! I'm glad someone finally recognizes my prosteg-

?: That being said, the Schnee dust company is also known for its questionable business partners and horrible work conditions for its faunus labor.

Weiss: Hmph!

Weiss immediately turned around and walked away in a huff.

Ruby: Wow, you got rid of her quick! So, what's your-

She turned around, and realized the mysterious girl had disappeared.

Ruby: Name…

?: Hi, my name is Jaune Arc!

Ruby: ACK! Where do these people keep coming from?!

I didn't notice Jaune walking up to us, but I doubt it was due to his stealth. I'm sure I've seen that other girl somewhere before, but I don't know where…

Jaune: Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I've never been very good at introductions…

Ruby: It's fine. I'm Ruby, and this is Rocket

Rocket: Hello!

Jaune: It's nice to meet you both! Oh, are you her bodyguard?

Ruby: Why do people keep thinking that?

I couldn't decide whether to give my usual reply, or to keep my mouth shut and have a chance of living. I decided to live.

Ruby: Wait, aren't you the one who threw up on the plane?

Rocket: Ever the silver-tongued charmer…

Jaune: Hey, air-sickness is a very serious issue! It's way more common than you would think!

Ruby: Whatever, vomit-boy

Jaune: That's mean… How would you like it if people called you, um, crater-face or something?

I saw that I needed to change the subject to save Jaune.

Rocket: ANYWAYS, what's your weapon?

Jaune: Oh, mine? It's, um, kind of basic. I don't think you guys would be interested…

Rocket: I literally have a sharpened stick.

Jaune: Oook then. Mine's a family heirloom, from my great-grandfather. It's a sword and a shield.

Ruby: Ooooo

Jaune: Oh, and the shield collapses down into a sheath for convenience!

Rocket: Wait, wouldn't it still weigh the same?

Jaune: Yah, it does… So, what do you have Ruby?

Ruby: oh, it isn't much.

Ruby took out Crescent Rose, her 7-foot-long red and black scythe. It made a dent in the pavement where it expanded out.

Jaune: WOAH! That is, uh, a really big scythe.

Ruby: It's also a high impact, customizable, .50 caliber, dust round sniper rifle.

Jaune: e-what?

Ruby: It's also a gun.

Jaune: Well, that really coo-

Rocket: Wait, aren't we supposed to be meeting somewhere for a speech?

Ruby: Everyone else is still he-

She looked around. We were the only ones there.

Jaune: So, do either of you know where we are going?

Rocket: No idea.

Jaune: Do either of you know when we are supposed to be meeting?

Ruby: Nope.

Jaune: Aw crap


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

POV: Rocket

We managed to find our way to auditorium, albeit with a bit of guidance from the teachers, but we did make it on time. When we entered the auditorium, everyone was already there. Fortunately for me, I like staying at the back of a crowd. Less people notice me that way.

Yang: Hey guys! So, how did everything go?

Ruby: You mean after you abandoned me and I exploded?

Yang: Geez, meltdown already?

Rocket: No, she actually exploded

Ruby: There was some fire, some lightning, I think some ice was in there too.

Yang: Are you guys being sarcastic?

Ruby: I wish! Once you LEFT, I fell into some crabby girls luggage. Then she yelled at me a bit. Then I EXPLODED. Then-

Rocket: Uh, Ruby?

Ruby: What?

Weiss: YOU!

Ruby: AH IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!

Weiss: It's lucky for you that we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!

Yang: Oh my gosh, you really did explode

Rocket: Actually, Ruby was almost launched over the edge.

Weiss: Still!

Yang: Ok, it looks like you two just started off on the wrong foot. Let's just start back over from square one. Ruby, introduce yourself!

Ruby: Ok! Hi, I'm Ruby Rose. What's your name?

Ruby extended her hand. There was a brief silence. Weiss didn't even look at Ruby's hand.

Weiss: Do you really want to make it up to me?

Ruby: Yes?

Weiss: Then read this and never talk to me again.

She handed Ruby a book a walked away. The book was titled "Dust for Dummies".

Rocket: Well, at least the title applies.

That comment earned me a face-full of paper. I pocketed the book, hoping that maybe it would come in handy later.

Around 30 minutes after that encounter, Glynda walked onto the stage.

Glynda: Silence!

When people didn't stop talking, she looked like she was about to lose her temper. She pointed her wand thingy into the air, where a burst of flame shot out. That got people to shut up really quickly.

Yang: I guess her temper _flared_ , am I right?

Glynda: Thank you. Headmaster Ozpin has few words for you. Please do yourself a favor and listen.

Ozpin stepped up to the mic. He seemed a bit tired, but he quickly covered it up. His speech seemed rehearsed, and lacked most passion. It was mostly a grim warning about how some of us might not leave, and how that was just the risk we would have to take. I don't think even he knew how accurate the speech was. After the speech, it took a couple of seconds before people started clapping, and even then, it was kind of half-hearted.

Rocket: Didn't he seem kind of, well, off?

Ruby: Yah, he seemed almost sad. I wonder what's going on?

Glynda stepped back up to the mic.

Glynda: Remember to meet out at the Emerald Forest Overlook tomorrow morning. For today though, first years need to find your assigned tour guide. Tonight, you will be sleeping in the upstairs commonroom. As for everyone else, same rooms as last year. Dismissed!

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The day went by in a flash. I was surprised when they showed us the lockers. Apparently, they can be sent to any location in Vale based on coordinates, which are entered by phone. Someone pushed Jaune into a locker and sent him flying away. He was back in about 15 minutes completely winded.

The cafeteria was another item of interest, since almost everyone there was 17 or older, and you know how teenagers can eat. You could find any type of food you wanted, anytime you wanted. Ruby was effectively hypnotized by the cookie section. I had to drag her away before she could try and figure out how many cookies she could fit in her mouth.

There were a couple other places on campus, but those two were the only noteworthy ones. After all of those tours, we finally retired to the commonroom to sleep. It was a lightly decorated room. This made it perfect for a time like this, as it was pretty open and empty. The room was divided in two, with boys on one side and girls on the other. I was on the inside edge of the boy's side, and Ruby and Yang were on the inside edge of the girl's side. Ruby got out a pen, and some paper.

Yang: What'cha doin'?

Ruby: Writing back to the gang at Signal. I told them I would write and tell them how things went at beacon

Yang: Aww, that's so cute!

Ruby: Shut up!

Ruby threw pillow #1.

Ruby: Unlike you, I didn't get to come with my friends.

Yang: Come on Ruby, that wasn't very _friendly_!

Ruby threw pillow #2.

Yang: Still, at least you're starting to make friends here! There's that Jaune guy seems nice. That's 1! At least it's a start.

Rocket: You realize I'm right here, right?

Ruby throws pillow #3

Yang: See? That makes 2 friends already!

Ruby: But I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as 2 negative friends, so I'm back at zero.

Yang: There's no such thing as a negative friend, you just made 2 friends and 1 enemy!

Ruby looked up, and saw the other girl sitting against the wall, reading a book by candelabra light. (Seriously, who uses a candle to read?)

Ruby: Hey, that's the girl that scared Weiss off.

Yang: Ok, let's go talk to her!

Ruby: Wait! Aaaah!

Yang dragged Ruby over to the other girl. The other girl look up as they were approaching

?: Can I help you?

Yang: Hi, it's just that Ruby here recognized you, and I was hoping we could chat for a bit.

Ruby (In my general direction): Help, I am being held against my will.

Rocket: Sorry, I cannot cross this non-existent line in between the two sides. Otherwise... eh, I probably still wouldn't.

Ruby throws pillow #4

Ruby: So, uh, thanks for, uh, saving me from Weiss back in the courtyard.

?: It was no problem. She was quite annoying (Kind of like you guys).

That last bit was added under her breath. I managed to read her lips and understand it, but Ruby and Yang seemed to be oblivious to it

Yang: What's your name?

Blake: My name's Blake. What's yours?

The question was more addressed at Yang, since Blake already heard Ruby's name.

Yang: My name's Yang, and this is my sister, Ruby!

The silence stretched out, and Blake started looking back at her book. Yang, seeing this, continued.

Yang: So, what are you reading?

Blake: It's a book about a man with two souls, each one fighting for control over his body. It gives an interesting position, as he will randomly switch personalities during a conversation. It's a very good book. Which I would like to get back to. As soon as your done talking.

Weiss: Can all of you stop talking? Some of us are trying to sleep!

Rocket: You're the loudest one here so far…

Weiss throws pillow #5. Ruby and Weiss started arguing again, while Yang tried to calm them down. Blake just looked at them for a second, and then blew out her candelabra. That had to have been one strong candelabra to have been lighting up the entire room. Once she put it out, the room went black, with Ruby and Weiss fighting in the dark.

Rocket: This year is going to be SO interesting.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

POV: Rocket

You know how I said I liked planes? Well, the weird part is that I absolutely hate heights. So, when I found myself standing on a platform on the edge of a cliff, I began to wonder where my life went wrong.

Rocket: We are VERY high up…

Jaune: Thank you, captain obvious.

Ruby: This is going to be sweet!

After they gave us a final briefing, Jaune looked very confused. Ozpin asked for questions, Jaune raised his hand. Ozpin didn't respond. We were all launched into the air within a few seconds. Ruby used her scythe to catch a branch. Yang use the recoil from her shot-gauntlets to slow herself down until she was able to land. Weiss used some sort of symbol as a platform. Pyrrha Nikos (you know, the person on the front of the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box) crashed through trees with her aegis to slow herself down enough to land on tree branch. She saw Jaune falling in the distance, and was able to throw her javelin, I think to catch him. Personally, I prefer to catch myself on a tree with my scythe.

Once I was on the ground, I began looking for the temple. I knew it was just a small, stone structure in the north end of the forest. It was just then that I realized I was launched much further south than everyone else.

Rocket: _Well, better start walking than._

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POV: Omniscient

Ruby landed, and immediately began sprinting through the woods.

Ruby: _Gotta find Yang… Gotta find Yang… Gotta find_ YAAANG! YAAAAAAAANG! _Ok, this is not good… who else do I know? Let's see, there's Rocket… oh, there's Blake! So mysterious… but I feel like I wouldn't be able to hold a conversation… Um, I guess there's Jaune. He's nice! And funny! But i feel like he wouldn't be very good in a fight… who else is there?_

Immediately, the universe answered. Ruby slid to a stop in front of a fully white dressed figure, also known as Weiss. Weiss immediately turned around, and walked away.

Ruby: Wait! We're supposed to be teammates!

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Yang walked through the forest, having rolled as she landed. Of course, she wasn't too worried about the grimm. She was mostly worried about-

Yang: Hellloooo! Ruby?! _Where is she?_

Suddenly. She heard a bit of movement in bushes nearby.

Yang: Hello?

She walked over the bushes. Pushing them out of the way to see clearer.

Yang: Ruby? Is that you?

From the darkness at the center of the bush, she heard a deep growling. Two glowing red eyes looked out at her.

Yang: Nope.

She quickly backflipped, barely dodging a massive paw crashing into the ground where she had been only moments before. Her gauntlets were already out and ready. She sized up her opponent. Well, opponents. Turns out there were 2 ursa. The first one charged again, apparently more aggressive. She taught it a quick lesson with a punch to the gut, simultaneously firing her gauntlet. The combined force was enough to launch the ursa back into the woods, she turned to the other one, and ducked a horizontal swipe, immediately answering with an uppercut. Once more, the force was massive, launching the ursa away. It landed next to its recovering companion.

Yang: Have either of you happened to see a little girl in a red hood?

Once more, the first ursa charged.

Yang: You could just say no…

She sidestepped the first crushing paw, and ducked under the next, back flipping away as she did so.

Yang: Geez, you two couldn't hit the wide side of a ba-

She noticed a small sliver of gold float down in front of her. Her hair. A primal sound began emanating from Yang, as she closed her eyes.

Yang: You… you MONSTERS!

She opened her eyes, as they turned a deep, blood red. Her hair igniting as she did so. The two ursa turned to eachother, and basically gave as much of a shrug as two soulless, bear shaped monsters born of darkness could give. They turned back to Yang and charged again. Grimm are stubborn and determined, but obviously not very smart. Screaming a battle cry, Yang launched herself forward, meeting the massive beast. It was no match for her. She rolled to a stop, dodging a horizontal swipe, and immediately punching it in the back, knocking it over. She turned to the other ursa, and immediately released a barrage of punches, moving forward as she did so. She ended the series of punches and gunshots with a devastating elbow, sending the grimm crashing through multiple trees, and finally hitting a more solid tree and disintegrating. Yang was watching her handiwork, when she remembered the other grimm she turned to find it standing behind her. She immediately got ready fight, but was interrupted, as the grimm shuddered. It toppled, revealing Blake standing behind it. She quickly pulled her sword out of the grimm's back, and glanced up at Yang.

Yang: I could have taken it.

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Weiss fought through bushes, angrily muttering to herself as she went.

Weiss: Stupid dolt…

Then, she heard a nervous laugh from above her. She looked up, to find Jaune hanging from Pyrrha's javelin. Once more, she turned around and walked away.

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Ruby was too busy moping to notice Weiss' return. Weiss simply grabbed Ruby's hood, and dragged her along.

Weiss: by no means does this make us friends.

Ruby: You came back!

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Jaune: Wait! Who going to get me down from here?! Ugh…

?: Ehem! Jaune?

He looked down to find Pyrrha, standing at the base of the tree he was pinned to.

Pyrrha: Do you… happen to have any spots left on your team?

Jaune: Ha ha. Very funny. And, yes, yes I do. Can you get me down from here please?


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

POV: Omniscient

As Ruby and Weiss walked away, Ruby noticed Weiss was moving really quickly.

Ruby: What's the hurry?

Weiss: I will not have the mission delayed because you are too slow. I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your st- Agh!

That last bit escaped her lips as Ruby practically warped directly in front of her.

Ruby: I'm not slow, see? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! Just because I don't know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters. You're going to see a whole new side today! Soon, you'll be like, "Woah, that girl Ruby is so cool… and I totally want to be her friend"!

And with that, Ruby burst ahead once more, and Weiss walked along to catch up.

Weiss: You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!

After she didn't get an answer, except for the cicadas chirping, she began to get worried.

Weiss: Ruby?

She took a few more steps forward, before she heard a growl behind her.

Weiss: Ruby!

She spun around to face the grimm she knew would be there. What she didn't know would be there, was the semicircle of beowolves, emerging from the forest around her. She heard her sister's voice in her head, from back when they used to train together.

?: _Head up. Shoulders forward. Right foot forward. Not that far forward._

Weiss scooted her foot back to compensate.

?: _Slow your breathing. Wait for the right time to- NOW!_

Weiss launched herself forward using her glyphs, ready to destroy her first target.

Ruby: And… gotchya!

Ruby darted out of a nearby bush, cutting Weiss' first target clean in half. Of course, she was now in Weiss' way. The burst of fire planned for the grimm went very wide, and struck a nearby tree. She was barely able to stop in time. Actually, she still slightly bumped into Ruby.

Ruby: Hey, watch it!

Weiss: You watch it! I could have killed you! You attacked out of turn! You have to co-

Ruby: You'll have to try a lot harder than that…

And with that, Ruby turned to face the grimm in the circle. Just before she was about to launch herself at the grimm, a burning tree landed in front of her.

Weiss: Come on, we need to go. The fire is spreading quickly!

Ruby turned away, and they both ran into the woods.

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Soon, they found themselves on a cliff, overlooking the burning mess they had created.

Ruby: What was THAT?! That should have been easy!

Weiss: Well, maybe if you exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the place of your strikes, I wouldn't have had to pull my attack, setting the forest on fire!

Ruby: What's that supposed to mean?!

Weiss: I'm just surprised that someone who talks so much, would communicate so little during an encounter! If you had just called or, I don't know, told me where you were, then I could have compensated!

Ruby: Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm good enough on my own, thank you very much.

Weiss: Congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo.

And with that, Weiss turned away once more, walking into the woods. I almost feel sorry for the tree next to Ruby, as she quickly let out some anger and rage on it and it too crashed down into the fire.

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Also moving generally North, Jaune and Pyrrha were forcing their way through the woods, when they heard Yang's gauntlets go off in the distance.

Jaune: Woah, you hear that?

Pyrrha: It seems like some of our comrades have encountered an enemy.

They kept moving forward, pushing by a tree. Pyrrha, forgetting she wasn't alone, let go on the branch she had pushed out of the way. It nailed Jaune in the face.

Pyrrha: Jaune! I'm so sorry…

Jaune: It's ok, just a scratch.

He lifted his hand, to reveal a thin line right beneath his eye, where a pointier part of the branch had broken the skin.

Pyrrha: Why didn't you activate your aura?

Jaune: My wah?

Pyrrha: Have you never heard of aura?

Jaune: I know all about aura, but the question is do you?

Pyrrha just sighed and walked closer to him.

Pyrrha: Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It protects us, and bears our burdens.

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Ren felt a presence behind him, before he saw the danger. He rolled forward, and turned to find a King Taitaju behind him. It hissed, sizing him up, ready to attack.

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Pyrrha: With practice, it can shield us. Everyone has it, even some animals.

Jaune: What about the grimm?

Pyrrha: The monsters we fight lack a soul.

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Ren jumped back as the massive serpent crashed into the ground. Unfortunately, it bounced back up, nailing Ren as it went. Soon, it had completely encircled him. Standing inside, he retrieved both his weapons from inside his sleeves. He jumped out the ever-closing exit, clearing it easily and raining bullets on the snake as he fell.

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Pyrrha: They are the darkness, we are the light.

Jaune: Right, that's why we fight them.

Pyrrha: It's good to understand both light and dark so that we can better understand our own aura.

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Ren landed on the snake's skull, plungind his knives into the open point he knew existed between the skull and the vertebra. He still heard hissing, however, and jumped to the side as a second head, in place of the tail, attacked. This one was pure white, however. Now, he had both heads to deal with, as he had missed the nerve. Both heads attacked at once. He was able to almost dodge one, but his knives her knocked out of his hands. He couldn't react in time to dodge the second. It bit down.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Pyrrha: By bearing your soul outward, you can deflect harm.

Jaune: So… kind of like a forcefield!

Pyrrha: If you want to look at it that way… sure.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ren slowly pushed the snake back, pulling his aura to his hands preventing his skin from being broken. With a movement faster than lightning, he moved his hands to around the fangs, rather than against them. He pulled outwards, breaking them off. The serpent roared in agony. It's head hit the ground, but it wasn't dead yet. Ren fixed that. He threw one of the fangs through the eye, piercing the brain of the one side.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Pyrrha took another step forward, now only a foot separated them.

Pyrrha: Now, close your eyes and concentrate.

Jaune: Uh, ok…

He followed her instructions. She raise her arms, putting one hand on his shoulder, and laid the other on his chest. She too closed her eyes for a second, before they flared open, but not seeing. A red light passed between them, turning white on contact with Jaune. Immediately after the glow faded, Pyrrha double over, breathing heavily.

Jaune: Pyrrha! Are you ok?

Pyrrha: I'm fine. I used a bit of my aura to unlock yours, but now the energy that protects you is your own.

She watched as the cut on his face healed almost immediately.

Pyrrha: You seem to have a lot of it…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ren walked away from the field where he had encountered the massive snake. Having recovered his knives, he slid them back into place and brushed off his sleeves. As he passed by one tree, a familiar face leaned down, hanging from one of the branches.

?: ? ? ? ? ?

Ren: I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like.

Nora: Boop!

She dropped to the ground, and they continued on.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Professor Goodwitch walked up behind Ozpin, with her scroll out. They were watching each group as they moved along.

Glynda: Sir, all partnerships are now formed. Except for Rocket, that is. I do believe you miscalculated there, sir. Anyways, the new partnership is Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie… I can not imagine those two getting along… Anyways, at this rate, they should all reach the temple within a few minutes. What did you use as relics this year?

Ozpin did not reply.

Glynda: Sir?

She looked at his scroll. It was open to Ruby and Weiss.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

POV: Omniscient

Ruby was sitting on the ground, messing with a leaf, while Weiss was pacing in front of her, muttering to herself.

Weiss: It's this way! No… This way?

Ruby threw the leaf behind her and stood up.

Weiss: Maybe we've passed it… that's it, it's official! We've passed it.

Ruby: Why don't you just admit that you have no idea where we're going?

Weiss: But I do! We're going to… the forest temple!

Ruby: That isn't a direction.

Weiss: Oh, shut up! You don't where we are either!

Ruby: But at least I don't act like I do!

Weiss: What's that supposed to mean?

Ruby: It means… it means I hate you!

Weiss: Ugh, just keep moving.

Ruby: Keep moving… hurry up… what where you're going... wah, look at me, my name's Weiss...

Weiss: Shut up.

Ruby: Why are you so bossy?!

Weiss: Don't say things like that, I'm not bossy!

Ruby: Stop treating me like a kid!

Weiss: Then stop acting like one!

Ruby: Stop acting perfect!

Weiss: I'm not. I'm not perfect, ok? No matter what, though, I'm still leagues better than you.

With that, Weiss turned and walked away, leaving Ruby to stand alone.

Ruby: But you don't even know me…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Yang and Blake finally arrived at the temple. Well, it wasn't really a temple, more of some mossy, old ruins.

Yang: Think this is it?

Blake just rolled her eyes. Yang had been talking almost the entire way there. Blake hadn't said a word. She walked on. They walked into the middle of the ruins, to a circle of pedestals. On each pedestal, there was a chess piece. Currently two were missing.

Yang: Chess pieces?

Blake: Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here.

Yang: Well, let's pick one!

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––

Jaune and Pyrrha stepped into a clearing around the mouth of a cave. There were inscriptions in an unknown language written next to it. All Jaune could understand was the arrow pointing inside.

Jaune: Huh. You think this is it?

Pyrrha: I guess we won't know unless we try…

Jaune quickly collected a bit of tinder, and lit it on fire. The stick was a good size and it didn't burn very quickly.

Jaune: Alright, let's go.

They walked in. Jaune felt it get colder almost instantly. He was glad he had the torch. After a couple seconds of silence, Pyrrha noticed some strange markings on the wall. It was like the previous letter inscriptions. It looked more like the rock had melted.

Pyrrha: Jaune? I don't think this is it.

Jaune: Oh, come on. I made the torch and everything. Don't you think you could humor me for 5 more feet?

He didn't make it one before tripping. The torch managed to flip over, before burying itself in some sand and going out.

Jaune: Ow…

Pyrrha: Hey, do you feel that?

Jaune: What, that new bruise on my arm? The soul crushing regret?

Pyrrha: It's… warmer.

Jaune: Hey, I see a light up ahead! Maybe it was a shortcut!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Yang: Hmm…. How about… A cute little pony?

Blake: Sure.

Since both black knights were gone, Yang grabbed a white knight.

Yang: Well, that was easy.

Blake: It's not like this place was supposed to be hard to find, the only challenge is fighting through all the grimm.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jaune: That looks like a relic to me…

The glow hadn't been sunshine, but instead, a yellow object that hovered around eye level. He was about to grab it, when it shifted slightly up, perfectly dodging him.

Jaune: Hey! Get back here.

He fruitlessly tried a few more times to grab it, before finally bear-hugging it. He felt it lift him further off the ground, and closer to whatever was causing that warmth. Finally, he stopped, and looked down. Beneath him, he saw eight glowing red dots, and a strange pattern.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Yang and Blake heard a high pitched scream in the distance.

Yang: Some little girl is in trouble! It might be Ruby…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

As Jaune's very manly shout echoed from the cave, Pyrrha finally made it out at a sprint. Soon, a massive grimm burst out the cave, destroying most of the tiny entrance. It was a giant scorpion, called a deathstalker. It had hooked Jaune's hoodie with its tail, and was bobbing Jaune up and down above its head. Pyrrha knew she couldn't do much; a white, bone-like armor covered most of its body.

Jaune: It's not the relic! IT'S DEFINITELY NOT THE RELIC!

Pyrrha: Jaune! Just… hold on! Whatever you do, don't let-

Finally, the grimm pulled it's tail back, before swinging it forward. It acted like a sling, throwing Jaune horizontally over the forest.

Pyrrha: go...

She turned back to the scorpion. Knowing she was beat, she resheathed her weapons and ran.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

After walking for quite a few hours, I managed to find my way to the temple. So far, only Blake and Yang were there.

Yang: Hey, Rocket, have you seen Ruby? I think I heard her scream earlier...

Rocket: I doubt that was her. There is probably very few things that would make Ruby scream like that.

?: yyyyyaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

We looked up, and saw a red blur flying towards us. Then, a white blur crashed into that red blur. Looking into a nearby tree, Ruby was caught by her hood on a branch. She heard noise behind her, and saw Jaune a little higher up, with another branch through his hood. Ruby, without even thinking, cut the branch, dropping her to the ground.

Rocket: Ruby, do you have a teammate.

Ruby: I did...

Rocket: 'Did'?

Ruby: I think I lost them.

Rocket: How do you lose a person?

Ruby just pointed upwards. Looking up, I saw Weiss, hanging from the talon of a nevermore.

Weiss: How could you leave me like that?!

Weiss was hanging off of the talon of a giant nevermore, still flying overhead

Ruby: I told her to jump.

Blake: She's going to fall-

Ruby: She'll be fine...

Blake: She's falling.

I quickly calculated trajectories… and decided that she would be fine. She managed to land exactly on Jaune, who had just made his way to the ground.

Jaune: You're welcome…

Just as everyone was about to start laughing at that whole series of events, we heard a roar from the forest behind us. We turned around just as an ursa stumbled out of the woods.

?: YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAW!

The ursa crashed on it's faced as Nora rolled off the collapsing beast. She looked back to inspect the corpse.

Nora: Aw, I think I broke it...

Ren stumbled out of the woods soon after Nora had, already winded from chasing her around.

Ren: Nora, never do that again-

Looking up, she was already gone. Nora had mysteriously appeared next to the pedestals, and grabbed a golden rook. I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!

Yang: Can nothing crazy happen for 5 SECONDS?!

Nothing happened for exactly 5 seconds. Then Pyrrha showed up with a deathstalker right behind her.

Ruby: I got it!

Yang: Ruby, wait!

Ruby sprinted off, straight past Pyrrha, whipping out her scythe as she did so. Yang dashed off after her, but Ruby was too fast. She crashed into the deathstalker, but found out the hard way that deathstalkers have the strongest armor of any grimm. The grimm pushed her off, send her rolling. She recovered quickly, but didn't get a chance to do the smart thing and run away from the deathstalker, because the nevermore decided to make it's presence known again. It sent a storm of feathers, Ruby could dodge one or two, but the hailstorm was much too fast for her to keep track of. She quickly found herself pinned to the ground by her hood. She looked up, and found a new sense of urgency to pull her cape out, as the deathstalker walked up to her. She raised her hands in a futile attempt to defend herself. Yang couldn't make it in time, as the deathstalker raised its stinger, poised to attack. A white blur raced past Yang, just before a bright flash of white blinded all of us.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Ruby saw nothing but white, she could only hear voices. It sounded like Weiss.

Weiss: You... are SO childish...

The white light faded, and Ruby's vision returned. There was a wall of ice in front of her, which Weiss removed her sword from.

Weiss: AND dim-witted, AND hyperactive! And don't even get me started on your fighting style. While I suppose I can be a bit difficult at times, we're going to have to do this as team to survive. If you stop trying to 'show off', I guess I'll try to be nicer. Deal?

Ruby: I'm not trying to show off, I just want you to know I can do this!

Weiss: Well, maybe if you don't try to take on such extreme challenges, you might just accomplish something.

Yang: Ruby!

Ruby was immediately crushed by Yang, as she rushed over, relieved.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

I ran over, right as Ruby was let go of, by Yang. Ruby stumbled for a second, gasping for air. As I cut her free of the feather, I saw the wall of ice the deathstalker was trapped in.

Rocket: I think you just earned a new nickname, Weiss.

The rest of the group joined us, Jaune having been cut free from the tree by Pyrrha.

Jaune: That bird is circling back! What are we going to do.

Weiss: Well, there's no sense in standing here. Our objective is right there.

She nodded at the remaining relics.

Ruby: She's right. Our objective is to grab a relic, and get out.

I noticed a cracking sound coming from the ice the deathstalker was frozen in.

Rocket: Whatever we do, we need to do fast, before that thing gets out.

We dashed over to the "relics". Jaune grabbed a white rook, while Ruby grabbed a white knight. There weren't any left for me.

Ruby: Wait, what about you?

Rocket: I'll be fine. I don't even have a partner, so there was probably just an error in math somewhere.

The was another, louder crack, and this time the ice visibly cracked. As the fissure widened, others noticed it.

Jaune: Come on, guys! That thing is almost free!

Blake: There should be a ancient structure nearby. It's right under the cliffs we left from.

Ruby: Ok team, let's get moving!

And with that, we left for the cliff side we were launched off of. Ruby led the group over the next cliff. I noticed Yang smile, watching as her sister led the group. The deathstalker broke free within seconds, and soon gave chase, knocking down trees to chase us. We got some distance on it, but Jaune seemed like he was about to pass out from all the sprinting. Finally, we ran out of the woods, and onto a stone bridge. Looking ahead, the old staircase that would have previously been used to get up the cliffs had collapsed years ago. I seemed like we would have to take out the nevermore to scale the cliffs. Things were about to come to an end in this test, one way or another.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

POV: Omniscient

The students had just left the forest, and found themselves in a bigger ruin. There was a giant pit with a dilapidated stone bridge and 8 broken pillars around the bridge. The nevermore was circling above the group of students, while the deathstalker crashed out of the forest. The nevermore made the first move, as it flew under the bridge, crashing into support columns. Part of the bridge collapsed, separating the groups. Rocket, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, Blake and Jaune were stuck on the side closest to the cliffs, with Pyrrha and Ren stuck on the other side.

Jaune: They need help! If we don't get over there, they could be killed!

Nora made a plan within a split second, she took out her hammer, pushed Jaune back, and then used her hammer on the broken edge of the bridge, closest to Rea and Pyrrha. A small segment of the bridge broke off, pivoting around its support column. Jaune, about to stand up, flip the world flip around him as he was flung over the gap. Nora, meanwhile, stood on the head of her hammer and pulled a trigger mechanism. The hammer... fire, for lack of a better term. She rode the recoil, as it launched her towards the deathstalker. Entering with a crash, she spun her hammer, and hit it square in the face.

While all of that was going on, Ruby, Rocket, Weiss, and Blake were making a plan to defeat the nevermore.

Ruby: So, while you're doing that, we can-

Rocket: Wait, where's Yang?

While the rest of the group have been planning, Yang had climbed one of the pillars and was shooting rockets at the nevermore. She saw that the rockets weren't doing anything, and tried a different method of attack.

She jumped in front of the nevermore, and was caught its beak. She use one arm to hold its mouth open, and use the other to fire straight down it's throat!

Yang: I… Hope… You're… HUNGRY!

Then the nevermore threw Yang off and started circling them further away. The rest of the group fighting the nevermore went to the side of the bridge, and began firing all sorts of projectiles at it. While they were doing that, Rocket got into position next to the cliff, since he didn't have any sort of projectile.

The group on the other side of the bridge were fighting the deathstalker. They all were playing their part, even Jaune, who wasn't a very competent fighter. The main perk he had was that he could block attacks with his shield, and he did just that. When the deathstalker tried to swipe at them with its pincers, Jaune and Pyrrha blocked the right and left pincers respectively. The deathstalker left itself open after the attack, so Ren had a chance to attack the stinger. Of course, even though he got his attack off, he was taken out of the fight by a smack from the pincer. Nora went on the attack, but the deathstalker easily shrugged it off. Jaune noticed the stinger, which was barely holding on.

Jaune: Pyrrha?

Pyrrha: On it.

Pyrrha threw her shield like a discus. The shield hit the sting right above the joint between it and the tail, cutting through the last few fibers holding it on. Then, she and Nora both jumped at the deathstalker, Pyrrha going high to catcher her shield, and Nora going a bit low, hammering the stinger the rest of the way through its skull. She then landed at the same time as Pyrrha, with Jaune trying to follow, and falling flat on his face. Ren then walked over, still hurt after his attack on the deathstalker, falling down right next to Jaune.

The nevermore had been taking too much damage throughout the fight, so it landed next to the cliff face. It was about to take off again, when Rocket, still hiding in position, threw an ice dust crystal at its tail, freezing it to the ground. Blake threw a sort of ribbon between two pillars, letting Yang catch it, and Ruby stretched it back like a slingshot. Weiss held her back with a black pull glyph, and prepared launch her.

Ruby: Do you think you can make the shot?

Weiss: Hmph. 'Can I'?

Ruby: Can you?

Weiss: Of course!

When the nevermore left an opening for less than a second, Weiss let Ruby go. Ruby hit the cliff side, with the nevermore's neck hooked by her scythe. Rocket joined her, jumping onto the cliff at the same time Ruby hit, but on the other side of the nevermore. He had his scythe hook around the nevermore's neck too. Weiss used her glyphs to keep Rocket and Ruby on the cliff, and also to speed them up the cliff. When they reached the top, Rocket pulled his scythe in one direction and Ruby pulled hers in the other direction, effectively turning their scythes into a giant pair of scissors, cutting off the nevermore's head. The body fell back down the mountain, leaving Rocket and Ruby standing at the top, with rose petals floating around them on the wind.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

POV: Rocket

After the placements, we found out that partnerships would be placed in groups of two partnerships to make a team of four, and that would be who we would spend our next few years with. The next few days were spent in suspense, with very few words in between. We knew that some of us would be placed on different teams, and so we would probably not be able to talk nearly as much. When the entrance ceremony happened, all of the anxiety was about to come to a head. We were standing to the side of the stage, waiting to be placed.

Rocket: You guys ready?

Jaune: As ready as I can be.

Ruby: I feel like I've just eaten a bunch of butterflies. Poor things…

We were cut off from our conversation by Ozpin walking up to the microphone.

Ozpin: We will now be announcing the teams for this year.

Ozpin: Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark. You all chose the black knight pieces. You will now be known as Team CRDL, lead by Cardin.

Ozpin: Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. You all chose the white rook pieces. You will know be known as Team JNPR, lead by Jaune Arc.

This caught him off guard for sure. I noticed that Pyrrha was smiling at him. Maybe she had something to do with i-

Ozpin: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. You all chose the white knight pieces. You will know be known as Team RWBY, lead by Ruby Rose.

Ozpin: That is all for this placement ceremony. You will all be assigned rooms…

At that point, my mind began racing, asking hundreds of questions, running through the last few day to try and find an I been kicked out? Did I fail?

Glynda walked up to Ozpin while he was talking, interrupting. She whispered into his ear, and he seemed to just then notice me.

Ozpin: Sorry, it appears that the ceremony is not over after all. Rocket. You didn't get a piece, did you? I'm sorry, I miscalculated. Because of this, you will get your own room, but you will still be a part of team RWBY. You will co-lead with Ruby and the team will become team RRWBY.

Ok, so that is an interesting setup. We have one boy on an all-girls team. Joy. At least I have a room to myself, so that helps, but I should probably stay with the team for the rest of the time other than to sleep...

Ozpin: You can all go back to your rooms now. I don't think I forgot anyone this time...

He glanced back and Glynda who gave him a slight nod in conformation.

Ozpin: Ok! This ceremony is now complete!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Weiss was peacefully asleep. It was early in the morning, but, for students, too dang early is their wake up time-

?: _TWEEEEEET_

Weiss almost fell off her bed, as a piercing shriek woke up probably everyone in the surrounding rooms. It definitely worked on Weiss. She regained her balance, and tried to see what had caused such a terrible sound. Then, she saw Ruby, in full uniform, holding a sliver whistle.

Ruby: Good morning, team RWBY!

Weiss: What is wrong with you!?

Ruby was unfazed.

Ruby: Ok! Now that you're awake we can start our first official order of business.

Weiss: And what might that be-

Yang: Decorating!

Startling Weiss again, she turned around and saw Yang and Blake, already in full uniform. Blake was holding a suitcase which seemed close to exploding, while Yang held a pile of stuff taller than she was.

Weiss: What?

Blake: We still need to unpack-

Her suitcase finally burst open, dumping it's contents all over the floor next to her.

Blake: And clean.

?: _TWEEEET_

Once more, Weiss was startled, but this time, actually fell, crashing to the floor.

Weiss: STOP DOING THAT!

Ruby: Our first mission, has BEGUN!

Immediately, the room was a flurry of commotion. Each member of team RWBY had their own decorations. Yang hung up 4 or 5 boyband posters, all of which related to the Achieve Men. Blake stocked the bookshelves, finding one book, titled "Ninjas of Love", and slowly putting it back into her back, wide-eyed and praying no one noticed. Weiss was attempting to position a painting of forever fall, nudging the painting in one direction or another, before stepping back to see her handiwork, and, not being satisfied, repeats the process. Ruby, meanwhile, was rearranging literally everything. Along the way, she accidentally cut one of the curtains diagonally. After about 5 minutes of rushed decorating, they regrouped and looked at their room. It was a mess. They had added so much of their own stuff, that the beds didn't fit, now only a pile at the other side of the room.

Blake: I think we underestimated the amount of junk we brought...

Weiss: We need to get rid of some of our stuff.

Ruby: or... we could ditch the beds... and replace then with bunk beds!

Weiss: That seems absurdly dangerous.

?: Ah, so I see you all are up the same stuff.

POV: Rocket

I had walked in to see a pile of beds, and mention of something dangerous.

Ruby: Oh, hi Rocket! We were thinking of making bunk beds. Do you know how to make something like that?

Rocket: I have some rope in my room, and I know how to use knots.

Ruby: Ok, go get that, while we set up the other one!

Weiss: Hey, we all still need to vote!

Ruby: Ok, all in favor, say Aye!

Yang: Heck yeah!

Blake: I guess it's efficient...

Ruby: And all against?

Weiss: It's stupid and childish-

Rocket: And it's also the idea we're going with.

I went and grabbed my rope, and, when I got back, they had managed to set on of the beds on another bed with books in between.

Weiss: That doesn't look at all stable.

Ruby: You don't look stable.

Weiss: He-

Rocket: I have the rope.

Ruby: Ok! Just make the bed hang from the ceiling or something.

I had rope rated for 800 pounds, so it should be able to take the weight of the bed, the question is, can my knots?

The ceiling was plain white, but after cutting a couple holes, I found a decently sturdy pipe to hang the bed from.

Rocket: Bowline here, double half hitch there, clove hitch on the ceiling, sheet bend to get rid of excess line... and done!

Ruby: That… is… AWSOME!

The bed was... a bit weird. It was fully wrapped in rope (the only way to make it not move while a person layed on it), but that covered up the sheets. It was also-

Weiss: Is it supposed to be tilted like that?

Rocket: I think that's one of the bars in the ceiling bending under the weight...

Weiss: It looks like it's going to fall if anyone breaths on it!

Rocket: Well, it looks like you're sleeping under it.

Weiss: What?!

Rocket: Yah, Blake and Yang have already claimed their beds, and I don't think Ruby is ever going to get off of the hanging bed, leaving the bed under that one to you.

Weiss: Wh-

Ruby: Next order of business, classes. Now, we have all of our classes together as a team. First, we have history at 7:00, and then-

Weiss: Did you say 7:00? It's 6:58 you DUNCE!

With those last words Weiss sprinted out of the room, with us all following quickly behind. Team JNPR noticed us leave, and then realized the time. Soon, we had a group of 9 sprinting off to Grimm Studies with Professor Port.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The classes were mostly pretty boring. In our first class, the entire thing turned into him only rambling about his own exploits as a huntsman for around 35 minutes. Meanwhile, Ruby continued with her adventures in boredom, somehow unnoticed by the teacher. The entire time he was telling a story about him and a beowulf, Ruby managed to find many separate ways to entertain herself. The ways included her: taking a nap; drawing a strange caricature of Professor Port, with stink lines above it and a title, saying "Professor Poop"; and way more in just the first few minutes.

Port: In the end, the beowulf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high.

As Ruby's antics continued, Weiss was getting more annoyed at her leaders distractedness every second.

Port: The moral of the story? A huntsman must be honorable!

Ruby somehow managed to balance an apple, on a book, held up by a pencil on her finger.

Port: A true huntsman must be dependable!

Ruby, probably attempting a school first, managed to fall asleep for the second time in the first class of the year.

Port: And most of all, true huntsman must be strategic and wise!

Ruby, pulling the last straw on Weiss, also pulled a booger out of her nose.

Port: Now, can we have a volunteer who believes they are an embodiment of these traits?

Weiss was the first and only one to raise her hand. Seeing as Ruby had been annoying her for the entire class period, she needed to take out some of her anger.

Port: Mrs. Schnee! Please, come down and prepare to fight. We have a special surprise here, fresh from the emerald forest!

He gestured at a crate on the floor next to him. It was shaking, and an ominous growl emanated from deep within it. Port has his blunderbuss out, ready, just in case Weiss couldn't handle it. Weiss got out her rapier, Myrtenaster, and got ready for just about anything. Just about. Instead of unlocking the crate and opening it like a logical person, Port shot the lock off. The grimm inside burst out into the open, allowing us to see what it is. It was a boarbatusk, a hog-like creature with two giant tusks that it has been known to use to knock down trees.

Port: Oho, what will you do about this?

The two foes faced each other for a pause that seemed to stretch out forever, as they sized each other up, each waiting for the other to make the first. Weiss, seeing as the monster was determined to She launched herself towards the boarbatusk using her glyphs, and tried to go for a straight jab, but then-

Ruby: Yah! Go Weiss!

Ruby distracted Weiss. The lapse in her concentration gave the grimm a chance to act. It turned its head to the side, so the sword went in between its head and its tusks, and then quickly whipped its head back, prying Myrtenaster out of her hands and sending the blade spinning away. Port still didn't step in. He seemed to want to see what Weiss would do about it. Weiss waited. The boarbatusk jumped backwards, and began rolling itself like a wheel in place, before launching itself at Weiss. Expecting this, she jumped out of the way, and, since the grimm couldn't exactly change directions, ran over and picked up Myrtenaster. With her sword safely back in her hands, she turned around to once again face the grimm. The boarbatusk began to charge up once again, and this time, Weiss didn't budge. But then, right before impact, she used one of her black glyphs as a shield, blocking the grimm. It bounced off the shield, disoriented as a wall seemed to appear out of nowhere, giving Weiss an opening. She jumped into the air, catching herself on a glyph before launching herself straight downwards, using all of her body weight along with gravity to force the point of her sword into the grimm. As soon as the grimm fell still, as if on cue, the bell rang. We all packed up our stuff and left the classroom.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
POV: Omniscient

Jaune was panting, standing in the circle of light. This circle was all he could see. Outside of it was completely dark. The only other person in the circle was a larger, muscular boy, who was a bit taller than Jaune. He had a shiny silver chestplate which was designed slightly more effectively than Jaune's. The boy's name was Cardin. Right now, he was Jaune's opponent. Cardin chuckled as Jaune stood a bit away from him, still panting.

Cardin: Is that all you've got?

Jaune: Not quite.

Jaune straightened up and raised his sword and shield. Cardin lazily swung his mace is slow circles. Jaune let out a shout and charged forward. Putting every ounce of force into one last attack, he lunged at Cardin... Who easily stepped to the side. Jaune's sword clattered against the grey, concrete floor. Just as his mind registered that his attack had missed completely, Jaune felt a massive impact against his back. His shield fell off his arm and his grip on his sword slipped as he was flung around five feet. He was barely able to scramble to his feet and pick back up his sword barely in time to block Cardin's mace. His blade locked with the handle of the mace, and the two stayed pushed against eachother.

Cardin: This is the part where you lose.

Jaune: Over my dead- Ooomph!

Jaune bent over double as Cardin's knee connected with his diaphragm, driving all his breath away. His sword spun away, as he fell back to the floor. He looked up, and could do nothing as Cardin raised his mace for one last devistating-

Glynda: That's quite enough, Cardin.

The lights in the classroom powered back up, as Jaune slowly shifted into a sitting position. Cardin lowered his mace, not killing Jaune, yet.

Glynda: As you can see, class, Mr. Arc's aura has dropped below ten percent, into the red. If this was a tournament dual, this would indicate Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and he would be eliminated accordingly. Mr. Arc, it's the fifth week of class. Please try to be more considerate of your aura. If you feel low, it might be beneficial to switch to a more defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a beowulf, now would we?

Cardin: Speak for yourself...

Suddenly, the bell rang. Jaune hung his head.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Nora: There we were... In the middle of the night...

Ren: It was around three o' clock in the afternoon.

Despite his interjections, Yang was enthralled in the story Nora was weaving at the lunch table. While she was listening eagerly, Blake was reading and Ruby was shoveling as many cookies as she could eat into her face.

Nora: We were surrounded by Ursae!

Ren: It was beowolves.

Nora: There were hundreds of them!

Ren: Four.

Nora: But in the end, they were no match for me and Ren!

While she was telling this story, Pyrrha noticed Jaune wasn't really eating. Instead, he was poking at his food idly.

Pyrrha: Jaune, are you ok?

Jaune: Huh? Oh, uh... Y-Yeah! I'm great! Why?

Ruby: It's just that you seem kinda... not ok.

Jaune: Seriously guys, I'm fine! See?

He tried to smile, and somehow even failed at that. OUt of nowhere, though, his pathetic attempt to alleviate his friends' worries was interrupted by laughter from a different table. He turned and saw Cardin and the rest of his team poking fun at a bunny faunas named Velvet. She was seated by herself, surrounded by the bullies.

Pyrrha: Jaune, we're not blind. We all know how Cardin's been picking on you all year.

Jaune: Who, Cardin Winchester? N-Nah, he just like to mess around! Practical jokes and stuff!

Blake: He's a bully.

Jaune: Oh, please. Name one time he's supposedly "bullied" me.

Rocket: Let's see... There was that time in the hallway where he activated your shield as you were walking through a doorway.

Jaune: Th-That was probably an accident! The button to open it's way too big, anyway.

Ren: Alternatively, there was that time he smacked all the books out of your hands on the way to history class.

Jaune: That was just a joke! It wasn't even really that hard to pick them back up-

Nora: Oh, and who can forget that time during orientation when he pushed you in that locker and sent it flying away.

Jaune: I didn't land that far from the campus...

Pyrrha: Jaune, if you're ever in trouble, you can just tell us. We'll be there for you.

Nora: OH! I've got it! We'll break his legs!

Jaune: Guys, it's fine. Plus, it's not like he's a jerk to me. He's just a jerk to everyone.

Once more, the groups attention was drawn to Velvet. Now, Cardin had one of her long bunny ears in his hand.

Cardin: See? I told you guys it was real!

Velvet: P-Please stop it...

Russel: Geez, what a freak!

Finally, Cardin let go of Velvet's ear. She shrank away, rubbing the point where her ears connected with her head.

Pyrrha: I can't stand people like him...

Blake: Unfortunately, he's not the only one.

Yang: It must be hard to be a faunas...

What the group didn't see as they went back to their own conversations, was Cardin looking at Jaune and smirking.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

POV: Rocket

The next day, we were sitting in history (Jaune was asleep, as per usual), and the lesson was quite boring thanks to doctor Oobleck. It was about the faunas, and the war humans had with them early on.

Oobleck: PriortotheFaunasRightsRevolution,morecommonlyknownastheFaunasWar,humaswerequiteadamantaboutthecentralizationoffaunasintoMenagerie.

He darted around the classroom, only taking breaks in his speak to tae a sip of coffee, and action that was definitely unnecessary, looking at his current energy levels.

Oobleck: WhileI'msurethismustfeellikeancienthistorytomanyofyou,wemustrememberthattheseeventsareprettyrecent! Theeffectsofthisuprisingcanstillbeseentoday! Haveanyofyouallbeendiscriminatedagainstbecauseofyourfaunasheritage?

The only faunas in the room, Scarlet Velveteena, shyly raised her hand. I saw Blake glare at Cardin for a split second, but, other than her, no one reacted.

Oobleck: Thatisterrible! Remember,students. IgnorancelikethisistheexactthingthatleadstowardseventsliketheFaunasWar. Now,whichofyoucantellmewhichfactormostscholarscreditastheturningpointinthewar?

Everyone looked at each other, not exactly picking up what he said. Apparently, only Weiss did, as she raised her hand.

Weiss: It was the battle at Fort Castel.

Oobleck: Precisely! Now,whocantellmetheadvantagethefaunashadoverGeneralLagune'sforces?

Jaune was still asleep, but Cardin was up to something behind him. Finally revealing his creation, he flicked a little paper football at Jaune. It bounced off the top his head, just hard enough to wake him up.

Jaune: Wah?

Unfortunately, his hand instinctively went up to where he was hit, appearing to Oobleck as him raising his hand. He was there in milliseconds.

Oobleck: Ah,finallydecidingtojoinclass,Isee. Excellent! Know,whatistheanswer.

Jaune: Um... I...

He noticed Pyrrha positioned over the teachers' shoulder. She had her hands cupped over her eyes.

Jaune: Um.. binoculars.

The entire class erupted, as Oobleck moved back to his desk. Most of the laughter came from the back of the class room, from Cardin.

Oobleck: Ha ha, very funny-I'msureCardinwouldjustlovetocorrectyou,asitseemestoebesofunnytohim.

Cardin: Um... were they better trained?

Oobleck: How so?

Cardin: All I know is that it's easier to train an animal than a person.

Pyrrha: You're not exactly the most open minded person, are you Cardin?

Cardin: What, you got a problem?

Pyrrha: No, I have an answer. Night vision. Faunas' can see in the dark much better than humans. General Lagune, not knowing this, made the mistake of attacking at night.

Blake: Maybe if he had paid attention in class, he might not have been seen as such a failure.

Cardin stood up in anger, ready to fight.

Oobleck: Mr. Winchester! Please take a seat. You and Mr. Arc can see me after class for additional readings. Now,movingon-

Before he could move on, though he was interrupted by the bell and we were released from the torturous history class. As we left, I noticed Pyrrha waiting outside of the classroom.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Oobleck: You two have been struggling in my class since day one. I don't know if it's a lack of interest or your stubborn nature, but-

He took another loud sip of his coffee.

Oobleck: Itendsnow! You have worked hard to get into this school, and we only accept the best. So I except both of you to act like it! History is important! If you don't learn it, you're destined to repeat it. Pages51to91! Iexpectanessayonmydesktomarrowmorning!Goodday!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jaune walked out of the door and noticed Pyrrha leaning against one of the pillars next to it. Before he could say anything, though, he was pushed from behind. Cardin's laughter echoed in his ears as Pyrrha helped him back up off the floor.

Pyrrha: You know, we really will break his legs.

Jaune sighed, knowing that he could never ask them to do something like th-

Pyrrha: Oh! I have an idea! Come with me.

She ran, dragging Jaune behind her with an iron grip.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

She finally released her grip on Jaune as they stepped out onto the rooftops. Now, she stopped, thinking of how to say what she needed to say.

Jaune: Uh, Pyrrha? I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not THAT depressed... I could always be... like... a janitor or something-

Realizing what Jaune was talking about, she pulled him back from the edge of the roof.

Pyrrha: That's not why I brought you up here. Something I come up here to think. People never really come up here, meaning we have privacy. I know you aren't the best of fighter right now, but I would like to help! Up here, we can train!

Jaune: What...?

Pyrrha: After class, we can train up here, where no one will bother us.

Jaune: ...So it's obvious I need help, huh...?

Pyrrha: That's not the point. Everyone needs a bit of a push from time to time. Needing help like this doesn't make you weaker or worse than anyone else. You've already made your way into Beacon. That speaks volumes for what you're capable of!

Jaune: ...You're wrong.

He turned away from Pyrrha, looking back out over the campus so far below them.

Jaune: I don't belong here.

Pyrrha: That's the kind of mindset we need to break! Of course you belong here-

Jaune: No, I don't!

He pushed away the hand she had set on his shoulder. Pyrrha could see the beginnings of tears in the corners of his eyes.

Jaune: I... I never made it into Beacon.

Pyrrha: Wh-What do you mean...?

Jaune: I mean I didn't go to combat school, or pass any sort of rigorous test, NOTHING. I never earned my spot at this academy. I... lied. I got my hands on a fake transcript and lied.

Pyrrha: What...? But why?

Jaune: My father... my grandfather... even my great grandfather were all huntsmen! They were all great people... heroes. I just wanted to be like them. But... I guess I'm never good enough.

Pyrrha: Then let me help you.

Jaune: I don't want your help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I just want to be the hero! I'm sick and tired of being the loveable idiot who always gets stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't fight my way out of this... what good am I?

Pyrrha tried to reach for him again but pulled away again.

Jaune: Just... leave me alone.

Pyrrha: ...If that's what you think is best, leader. Good night.

With that, Pyrrha turned and walked back off the roof, her back straight. Jaune sighed, and looked back out over the rooftops of campus. Out of the croner of his eye, though, he saw a shiny silver figure move up to the roof. He turned to find Cardin.

Jaune: Cardin!?

Cardin: Y'know, I couldn't help but hear you two from my dorm room. So... You snuck into Beacon, huh? I never expected you to be such a rebel.

Jaune: Please... I'm begging you, don't tell anyone!

Cardin: Oh, Jaune, I'd never rat out a friend like that.

Jaune: Um... friend...?

Cardin: Of course! We're real good friends now, Jauney-boy! And, as long as you're there for me when I need you, I think we'll be friends for a while. That being said... I really don't have the time to do that extra essay Dr. Oobleck assigned us. Do you think you could take care of that for me?


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

POV: Omniscient

Even more days later, in the JNPR common-room, the team was restless. Nora was jumping on her bed while Ren cleaned his gun for the 8th time that day. All the while, Pyrrha was angrily glaring out the window. Jaune was nowhere to be seen.

Nora: Man, Jaune sure does get back late, ever since he started talking to Cardin...

Ren: He has certainly made himself scarce.

Nora: Geez, doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!

Nora flopped down on the bed as she said this. Silence filled the room. Suddenly, Pyrrha, who had become quite the quiet person after her conversation with Jaune, broke that silence.

Pyrrha: I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jaune sighed and moved away from the door. He leaned up against the wall, and slowly slid to the floor. He knew he was a terrible leader. He honestly, in the deepest part of his brain, hoped that Pyrrha would turn him in. He also got caught up in thought way too easily and didn't notice Ruby happily skipping down the hallway.

Ruby: Hey Jaune! Long time no see, huh?

Jaune: Uh, hi Ruby...

Ruby: Did you lock yourself out again? Your team could probably let you in if you knocked...

Jaune: N-not this time. I got my scroll right here!

Ruby: So... um... what are you doing out here, then?

Jaune: I've messed up. I said something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash. Pyrrha won't even speak to me. I'm starting to think... I don't belong here. Everyone here is so skilled. I'm just a failure-

Ruby: Nope!

Jaune: Excuse me?

Ruby: Nope!

Jaune: Nope?

Ruby: Jaune, you're a leader now. You can't be a failure.

Jaune: But what if I've failed at being a leader?

Ruby: Nope!

Jaune: You aren't exactly the easiest person to talk to about this, you know...

Ruby: Nope! Jaune, you may have been a failure when you were a kid. You might have even been a failure the first day we met. But you can't be a failure anymore. You know why?

Jaune: Uh, because-

Ruby: Because it isn't just about you anymore. You have a team now. We both do! And if we fail, we would just be bringing others down with us. Obviously, Ozpin thinks you can be the leader your team deserves. He did choose you, after all.

Jaune was silent. The silence was shattered by his scroll ringing loudly.

Ruby: I guess I'll leave you to it. Good night!

Jaune: Good night.

As soon as Ruby's door closed, Jaune opened his scroll and looked at the message he had gotten. It was from Cardin. It read:

 _Hey, it's your buddy Cardin!_

 _I know you're probably busy with the last project I gave you, but I have another plan_

 _I need a big box of Rapier Wasps_

 _This is important, so don't mess it up_

Jaune: This one's going to take all night...

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

The next day, we were on the field trip. Jaune was carrying a big box, and all of the jars for his own team, and team CRDL. Glynda was walking ahead of us, briefing us on what we are about to start doing.

Glynda: You all will be collecting 1 jar each of the special sap that only appears here. It also tends to attract the Grimm, so be careful while collecting it. Well? Get to it!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Jaune, only barely able to stand, set down the 6 jars of sap. He collapsed to the ground, exhausted from the effort required to collect 6 jars all at once.

Jaune: I think I'm allergic to this stuff...

He heard an evil chuckle, and looked up to see Cardin smiling down at him.

Cardin: Very good, Jaune. Now, you might be wondering: 'Cardin, why did you make me collect 6 jars of sap, when there's only 5 of us'.

Jaune: That was one of the many questions running through my head...

Cardin: Follow me, and you will understand.

And with that, Cardin moved away. Jaune, after picking up the bottles again, ran after him. The woods around him thickened as they walked and he noticed that the path they were walking was the same one he had used to get to Cardin a few minutes ago. After a few minutes, Jaune heard chattering ahead of them. They came into a small clearing, with an almost wall-like rock facing at the other end. When he was on his tiptoes he could barely pear over its mossy surface. When he did look over it, he instantly saw team JNPR gathering sap around 30 feet away. Jaune could barely see the others gathering sap maybe 40 feet past them. He turned back to Cardin, who now had a devilish look on his face.

Jaune: Um, Cardin? What are you going to do?

Cardin: Payback.

Looking back at the group in front of him, Pyrrha had moved significantly closer to the rock that hid Jaune and Carding from them, now only 20 feet away at the most. The tree she had been gathering sap at had run out, and she had found a better supply in that unfortunate position, with her back towards Jaune.

Jaune: Against Pyrrha?

Cardin: That's the one! Redheaded know-it-all... She thinks she's so good. Well, we'll teach her a lesson.

He gave a quick hand signal, and Dove, who had been standing behind him as if at attention, handed him the buzzing box of wasps.

Cardin: You see, I needed this specific type of wasp for a reason. According to one of the essays you wrote for me, these wasps love sweets. And this sap is the perfect candidate. Just hit her with the jar, and the wasps will instantly be all over her.

Jaune: But-

Cardin: Oh, you'll do it. Or else I'll have a nice little chat with Goodwitch. And you will definitely be on the first bus out of Beacon.

Jaune looked down at the jar of sap in his hands; the weapon he now possessed. It's either her or him. Her future, or his possibility of one. He looked back over the rock at Pyrrha, who was still peacefully collecting sap. He moved his arm back and closed his eyes. He knew the shot was close enough that not even he could miss. He heard the buzzing in the box next to him. Just under that sound, he heard Pyrrha's humming. It was a familiar tune. The buzzing slightly crescendoed, the deadly racket completely covering her tune. Jaune's arm began to shake. He knew what he was going to do in his head. The motion was so simple. Now, he just had to act-

Jaune: No.

Cardin: What was that?

Jaune: I SAID NO!

Moving fast, knowing he would quickly lose the will to do it otherwise, he threw the jar straight at Cardin. That throw was, unfortunately, his only ever accurate throw. It hit Cardin square in the chest, splattering red sap all over his chest plate. Jaune brain could barely move to process the action he had just taken.

 _Slam_

Cardin's punch sent Jaune spinning to the ground.

Cardin: You know that was a bad idea, Jauney boy. You've made me angry. And now, I'm going to make sure that they send you home to mommy in teeny tiny pieces.

With the last words, he picked Jaune up with one arm and slammed him into the rock. Jaune, once he recovered the ability to breathe, felt his feet struggling in midair.

Jaune: I... don't care... what you do to me... but I will not let you do **anything** to my team.

Cardin: Heh. You think talk like that makes you tough?

 _Smack_

Cardin: Do you think you're tough now?

 _Smack_

Cardin: News flash: It doesn't!

Cardin threw Jaune to the ground effortlessly. Jaune slowly stood up, knowing Cardin would be throwing a big one soon enough-

 _Slam_

A white flash blind Jaune as Cardin backpedaled, off balance. He was clutching his hand. Jaune looked at himself and saw a white pulse glow around him for a second.

Jaune: My aura...?

He remembered Pyrrha's words, so many weeks ago.

 _Pyrrha:_ _Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It protects us and bears our burdens._

 ** _Smack_**

The kick sent Jaune sprawling face first into the dirt.

Cardin: Alright, let's see how much of a man you really are.

Suddenly, they all heard a low rumble from the woods behind them. As they turned around the ground shook. A massive ursa lumbered out of the woods, its eyes fixed on Cardin. After all, Rapier wasps aren't the only creatures attracted to the red sap of Forever Fall. The group began running, but not fast enough. The beast swung it's arm at Cardin, launching him into the rock. Jaune hesitated, as Cardin pulled out his mace and was casually flung away. He hit the ground so hard that his mace spun out of his hand, rolling to a stop in front of Jaune. The others had already run away. He was the only one who could decide Cardin's fate.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We had just found most of team JNPR to tell them it was time to go when I thought I heard the sound of breaking glass from behind a rock. I brushed it off as me imagining things, as I only barely heard it, with Ruby's endless dialogue drowned out almost everything else. Finally, as team JNPR was packing up, we all heard a roar from behind the rock, with team CRDL running out from behind the same.

Russel: Ursa, Ursa!

Nora: What?

He stopped, as he almost ran into Nora

Russel: Massive Ursa, back there! It got Cardin!

After that brief pause, he continued to run back towards the teachers. In a second Ruby's scythe was out.

Ruby: Yang, Blake, Ren, and Nora. You all go get a teacher. You guys will probably make it there faster than CRDL. Everyone else, follow me.

And so me, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Ruby ran over to save Cardin. We arrived at the scene with Cardin sprawled on the ground and Jaune facing the Ursa with his sword and shield at the ready.

Ruby: We need to go help him!

Pyrrha: Actually, I want to see how he handles this.

Weiss: WHAT?!

Jaune did not seem to be handling it well. He kept on rushing straight at the Ursa, and he kept getting knocked away. I noticed on Pyrrha's scroll that Jaune's aura was low. He went in for one last attack. The ursa's claws were about to hit him one last time. Pyrrha simply raised her hand. Her hand glowed black for a millisecond, and then Jaune's shield went up high enough to block the claws. Instead of the fatal blow, the claws bounced off his shield letting Jaune get close enough to behead the ursa. Jaune turned around and helped Cardin up.

Jaune: NEVER mess with my team.

Cardin just stood there stunned.

Ruby: What was THAT?!

Pyrrha: My semblance.

Ruby: What?

Pyrrha: You can burst into rose petals. Blake can clone herself. My semblance is Polarity.

Ruby: The ability to control poles?

Weiss: No, you dunce, in means she can control magnetism!

Ruby: Oh, that works too. We need to go tell a teacher!

Pyrrah: We could do that. Or, we could just keep this between us friends.

Ruby: Ok, that works too.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Jaune looked out at the city from the rooftop. He had already made sure Cardin's window was closed, for all the good that would do after the previous day. Now, Jaune could only wait to be expelled. He was so lost in thought, he didn't even notice Pyrrha come up behind him.

Pyrrha: No Cardin tonight? I thought you two were 'best buds' after all.

The toxicity in her voice stung, but Jaune knew he deserved every bit of it. And he also knew an apology was needed.

Jaune: Pyrrha, I'm sorry. I realize that I was a jerk. I mean, you were only trying to help and I just... had all this stupid macho stuff in my head... and, well-

Pyrrha: It's fine. What's done is done. But, you know, your team really misses their leader. You should come down sometime. Ren even made pancakes.

Pyrrha turned and began walking back towards the door, but Jaune still had one thing he needed.

Jaune: Pyrrha? I know I don't deserve it after everything I've done and everything I've said, but um... would you still be willing to train me?

Pyrrha stopped in her tracks, and it took everything she had to not let the goofy smile she could feel inside show through. She walked back over to Jaune and looked him in the eye for a second...

Then she kicked his feet out from under him.

Pyrrha: Your stance is all wrong. You need to keep your feet wider, and your center of mass should be closer to the ground.

She offered him a hand, letting that smile show only at the bare corners of her mouth.

Pyrrha: Let's try that again.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

POV: Rocket

Almost a full month after the incident with Jaune and Cardin, it was time for the Vytal festival. The Vytal festival is a worldwide event that happens once every 4 years and lasts through the entirety of winter and spring. It was about to begin, and we were taking a stroll. You see, during the Vytal festival, the school lets students go early every day, so they can prepare themselves for a tournament. Oh, did I forget to mention that? There's a tournament that is shown on television worldwide. Representative teams from each school compete to earn the title of champion team, but this year I heard they were doing it differently.

Weiss: Ah, the Vytal festival. Can any of you appreciate how much planning had to go into making this one even so big?

Ruby: I don't think I've ever seen you so happy before, Weiss. It's kind of creeping me out…

Weiss: Hush you!

Rocket: Ah, everything is back to normal for team RRWBY...

Weiss threw pillow #7 (Seriously, where do they keep getting these?)

Yang: Wait, why are we going to the docks? It smells like fish.

Blake seemed almost in a trance from the smell for a second but got over it quickly.

Blake: Weiss wants to check out the competition for the Vytal festival. You should see the book of people she's been keeping tabs on.

Weiss: Hey!

Yang: Oh yeah, how will the festival work for us? I mean, having Rocket kind of gives us an advantage in people.

Rocket: I will be either competing alone, or I can sub in case any of you can't compete.

Ruby: Well, let's hope that doesn't happen.

We stood around talking for a few minutes, before a ship pulled into the dock.

Boathand: No-good stowaway, get back here!

This blond boy in a white jacket was running away from some of the staff of the ship. He jumped off the boat and landed on a lantern post on the dock. He then hung upside-down from the post by a tail. Apparently, he was a monkey faunus.

?: Hey, a no-good stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway!

The staff walked under the lamp post.

Boathand: Just get down here!

?: Nah.

The boy threw the peel of the banana he was eating, and it landed right on the boathand's face. Then he jumped off the lamp post and ran right by us. As he passed by Blake, I noticed he winked.

Yang: Hey Weiss, if you wanted to see the competition, there it goes!

Weiss: Quick! We must observe him!

We all started running to "observe" that boy, with Blake being the last one to start. She seemed a bit stunned that that boy had winked at her. We all ran around the corner, where Weiss immediately collided with someone. Weiss stood up.

Weiss: Drat, he's gone!

Yang: Uh, Weiss?

Weiss just seemed to notice the person she collided with, a rather smiley, red-headed girl, who was still laying on the ground.

Weiss: Oh! Are you ok?

?: Yes! Thanks for asking.

Weiss: Um, do you want to get up.

?: Oh, yes.

The girl stood up quickly.

Penny: Salutations! My name is Penny! What are your names?

Ruby: Well, this is Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Rocket.

Penny: Well, it's nice to meet all of you!

There were a couple second of silence.

Ruby: So, what brings you here, Penny?

Penny: I'm here to compete in the tournament! I want to test my skills- *Hiccup* Excuse me.

Ruby: That's nice. Where's the rest of your team? Do you have any friends?

Penny: I don't know where my teammates are- *Hiccup* -and I don't really make friends that often…

More very awkward silence

Penny: Will you be my friend?

I was towards the back of the group, so I was able to see that the rest of the team was gesturing "no" to Ruby, but neither Penny nor Ruby could see them.

Ruby: Sure!

Penny seemed to break for a second.

Penny: That's great! We can do our nails, and go shopping, and-

Rocket: Well, sorry to cut you off, but we have to go for now.

Ruby: Aww, why?

Rocket: It appears that another dust store has been robbed, and I think we should investigate.

Ruby: Another one?

Yang: Wait, another one...?

Rocket: I'll explain later. For now, let's go check it out.

Ruby: Ok… bye, Penny!

Penny: Goodbye, friend Ruby!

We walked over to this new dust store. The officers were chatting. They mentioned something about how only dust was taken. That's weird. Thinking back, Roman didn't take any money when we saw him, so maybe it was him again…

Weiss: Must have been those faunas in the White Fang. Those faunas only know how to lie, cheat, and steal...

Blake: Well, not all faunas are bad, you know.

Weiss: Oh, really?

Thus, the biggest argument in the history of ever began. They argued all day, all around town, through dinner, and even in the room that night.

Weiss: And THAT is why I hate the white fang.

Blake: Well, maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!

It took everyone in the room a second to register the weird thing she said. WE. Before we could ask anything. Blake was out the door.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Blake stopped running. She was in front of the statue at the entrance of the school. It was of a huntsman standing over two grimm, crushing them. She slowly untied her bow. When she finished, it revealed two, small cat ears.

?: I knew you would look better without the bow.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

POV: Rocket

It was the two days after that whole argument. We had been looking for Blake all weekend, and we were running out of places to look.

Ruby: BLAAAAAAAAKE!

Yang: BLAAAAAAAAAKE!

Well, looking is a bit rich. I was looking. Ruby and Yang were shouting her name over and over again. And Weiss was, well, Weiss.

Weiss: A white fang member right underneath our noses.

Ruby: Weiss, you're not looking very hard.

Weiss: You know who might be able to help look? The police.

Yang: I think we should hear the whole story from Blake before calling the police.

Penny: And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today.

Ruby: AH PENNY, where did you come from?!

Penny: Hey guys, what is up?

Yang: Blake said something and ran off, and we're trying to figure everything out…

Penny: Oh! You mean the faunas girl!

Ruby: Wait, how did you know that?

Penny: The cat ears.

Yang: She doesn't have cat ears she wears a… bow…

A tumbleweed tumbled bye us.

Ruby: She does like tuna a lot…

The group grew silent. Not for long though.

Weiss: I still think we should call the police.

Ruby: Weiss-

Rocket: I just had an idea! We can split up to look for Blake. Yang and Weiss, you two can go that way, while Ruby, Penny, and I go the other way.

I gestured towards the left and right forks in the road respectively.

Yang: Ok Weiss, come on.

Weiss: But-

Yang dragged Weiss away to prevent her from arguing with Ruby.

Penny: So, you said your friend Blake ran away?

Ruby: Yep.

Penny: Is she Weiss' friend too?

Ruby: Well, that part is kind of up in the air right now.

Penny: So, what did Blake say right before she ran away?

Ruby: Well, she said something we didn't really know about her, and that is that-

Penny: Is she a MAN?!

Ruby: No, Penny. You see, we didn't really know that Blake was a faunas. We never saw her without her bow.

Rocket: I guess that fact alone should have tipped us off about something, though.

Penny: So, where did Blake go?

Ruby: That is what we are trying to figure out.

Penny: Well, Ruby my friend, I won't rest until your friend is back and safe with us once more!

Ruby: That's great, but first, we have to find her.

And that is going to be a very long adventure, with lots of questions from Penny.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

While Rocket, Ruby, and Penny were searching for Blake, she was sitting in a coffee shop, with a hot cup of tea and the monkey boy.

Blake: So, you wanted to learn more about me?

?: Finally, she speaks! All I've gotten so far is small talk and weird looks.

Blake glared at him.

?: Yah, like that.

Blake: Sun, have you heard about the White Fang?

Sun: The White Fang? I'm pretty sure there isn't a faunas in the world that hasn't heard of them. Those creeps are the ones who run around, and ruin the reputation of faunas' everywhere!

Blake: Well, I was once a member of the white fang.

Sun choked on his coffee, spraying dark stains everywhere, but somehow without getting it on either Blake or himself.

Sun: YOU were a member of the white fang?!

Blake: The white fang wasn't always like it is now. It used to be the voice of faunas everywhere. It used to be a peaceful organization. But then, a new leader stepped up. Slowly, our peace talks were turning into assassinations. Our protests, to riots. Our boycotts, to robberies. I was right there, at the front of it all. You could almost say I was born into it. When I learned I could fight, there wasn't any question of how I would use that skill. I had a partner at one point. At first, we killed absolutely no one, only took what we needed. Then, it turned into a couple of "fatal accidents". We began taking a bit more than we should have. Finally, during a raid on a cargo train of dust, he planned to blow up the entire train, with everyone on it. That was where I drew the line. I detached the train car that held the dust from the passenger cars. Now, he probably would kill me on sight for abandoning the white fang.

Sun jaw hit the floor. He was stunned. He had no idea that that girl had such a big story.

Sun: So, have you told any of your friends about it?

Blake: I- It's... complicated.

And then they went back to silence.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Blake and Sun were walking down the streets, still in silence. Sun was trying to make conversation but failing dramatically. They passed by that same dust store that had been robbed. Suddenly, Sun knew what to talk about next.

Sun: Do you think they're behind it?

Blake: Huh?

Sun: The white fang. Do you think they are the ones behind all of these dust robberies?

Blake: No, they would never need this much dust. They are just trying to make the humans fear faunas, and there are much more valuable thing to steal than dust.

Sun: Hmm…

Sun suddenly had an idea.

Sun: I think I know how to know for sure.

Blake: What's that?

Sun: To go to where they would be if they were behind it, and not find them there!

Blake: But where would they most likely be?

Sun: Well, I just so happen to know that there was a big Schnee dust company dust delivery that just came in.

Blake: How big?

Sun: HUGE. Absolutely massive. If the white fang was looking for dust, they would probably attack that. It came in so recently, it'd probably still be sitting at the port.

Blake: Well, there's only one way to find out, I guess.

And so they headed out to the port. What they will find there, no one knows.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

POV: Omniscient

Blake was laying on the roof of a building, looking over the storage area for the shipment Sun had been talking about. Sun was right, the shipment was absolutely massive. Shipping crates were spread out in every direction, almost 4 tall.

Sun: I'm back. Did I miss anything?

Blake: Nope. H

Sun: Huh. I stole you some food. Want some?

Sun was holding around 15 apples, with one held out to Blake.

Blake: Do you always break the law without a second thought?

Sun: Weren't you in, like, a cult or something?

Blake glared at him.

Sun: Ok, too soon.

Suddenly 2 bullplanes flew over them and landed in an area that had been left in the middle of all the shipping containers. A bunch of people got out and prepared their gear.

Sun: Is that them?

Looking at the symbols on their backs, Blake instantly knew.

Blake: Yes.

Sun: You really didn't think they were the ones behind it, did you?

Blake: I think I always knew deep down, I just didn't want it to be true.

Then, something unexpected happened. A man got off the plane, with a black hat, and a white suit and fancy cane. He was known by many, but not by Blake, as Roman Torchwick.

Blake: Wait... that isn't right. The white fang would never work with a human. I'm going to go find out about things.

Sun: Blake, wait!

It was too late. Blake had already jumped down the building and landed almost on the human. With a second, Blake was holding Roman at swordpoint.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

I was walking along, looking for Blake, when I saw 2 bullplanes fly overhead. Those models hadn't been used for a long time the last time I saw one was… Roman.

The last time I had seen one was when Roman made his getaway those many weeks ago. With this in mind, I trailed the planes. Eventually, they landed on the docks. I climbed up one of the buildings overlooking the docks. Blake was there. And… she was holding Roman at swordpoint while surrounded by White Fang members.

Rocket: _Well, there goes any idea that she might be a member._

I called Ruby.

Ruby: Hello?

Rocket: Hey, Ruby, this is Rocket. I found Blake. And Torchwick. And the White Fang. All I can say is that Blake is not on friendly terms with either the white fang or Roman. I would suggest getting down here as fast as possible.

Ruby: Ok! I'll be right there.

After I hung up, I looked back at the scene. Things had escalated, and a fight had started. Wait, there were two figures down there. Blake was fighting alongside the stowaway we had seen earlier. I watched as they were slowly surrounded. They had put up a fight, but then two more bullplanes had arrived during the fight, and they had quickly been overwhelmed.

Rocket: _It's about time I step in._


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
POV: Omniscient

Rocket went down the side of the building unnoticed. His black jacket melted into the shadow, to the point where he was invisible.

Roman: Give it up. You're surrounded. The white fang isn't what it was when you were here. It's bette-

Suddenly, a black blur crashed into Roman. Rocket stumbled for a second, slightly off balance.

Rocket: _I never do that right...!_

Rocket didn't have much time to think, though, because the 20 or so white fang members began shooting. Rocket had to block around 50 bullets per second. His arms became a glowing red blur from his aura. While the white fang was distracted, Blake and Sun ran to go get their weapons. While they were collecting their weapons, one last bullplane flew over the docks, and took aim at Rocket

Rocket: _Time to move..._

Rocket turned and ran, with the bullets hitting the ground a few inches behind him. He counted every bullet, before sliding to a stop just as the gun ran out of ammo. He quickly pulled his scythe back out. The gun was reloaded and fired one round in the time it took Rocket to jump, moving faster than the eye could see. As Rocket touched down, the gun fell off the bullplane, cut at the base. Rocket looked up, expecting the other white fang members to be standing there, but most of them were running for the other bullplane. Torchwick was standing, ready to fight.

Rocket: You aren't running with them?

Roman: You re-

Ruby: Aww, did I miss the fight?

Ruby was standing at the same building Sun, Blake, and Rocket had all entered the fight from.

Roman: Red! Isn't it a bit past your bedtime?

Penny also appeared next to Ruby

Ruby: Penny, you should stay out of the fight.

While Ruby was distracted, Roman quickly aimed his cane and fired.

Rocket: Ruby!

Ruby: Wha-

Ruby was hit straight in the face and launched away. Penny seemed to find the determination to fight. She began walking forward.

Ruby: Penny, wait!

Ruby was too injured to fight, but still somehow barely conscious.

Penny: Don't worry Ruby. I'm combat ready!

Penny's backpack opened and 6 swords came out, seemingly floating.

Penny jumped down from the building, and the swords moved, as if by their own volition, and slashed at the two members next to her. Since it didn't take all of the remaining white fang members to start flying the bullplanes, there were about 14 more people ready to face Penny. She mostly fought with her swords in a line, making it so that any opponents would get hit 6 times consecutively. As soon as the white fang started shooting at her, she switched to having the blades spin in a circular saw pattern in front of her, blocking all of the bullets. One of the bullplanes joined in with shooting, and Penny was locked in a defensive move. After a quick second of thought, she made a plan. She launched two more swords out of her backpack, directly at the bullplane. Her swords hit the side, rotating the plane so that the forward facing gun was completely rendered useless. She then began to pull the plane down, with it's entire crew jumping out before it crashed. She still needed to get out of her defensive position, so she launched the two extra swords backwards, lodging them in the wall. Using them as an anchor, she pulled herself back to the wall, just out of range of most of the guns. There, she spun all 8 swords in front of her, with the blades aimed inwards. Green energy started gathering in front of her, coalescing into a ball. Another bullplane was just starting to get into the air, when she fired, cutting the plane in half, but hitting no one. Roman, using this entire scene as a distraction, got in one of his two remaining planes, and pulled off.

Roman: These kids just keep getting weirder…

He shut the cargo door to the plane, as the plane escaped.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

Ruby and I were listening to Blake, and her entire story. When Yang and Weiss arrived, Ruby was the first one to run over to Weiss.

Ruby: Weiss! Yousee,Blakeisn' whatshewasreferingtowhenshesaid"We".Yousee,shehasthesecatearsandtheir actuallykindofcute.

Rocket: Basically, Blake is a cat faunas. She uses the bow to hide the cat ears.

Weiss walked right by us, and straight up to Blake.

Blake: I would like you to know that I no longer asso-

Weiss: Do you know how long we have been searching for you?

Blake: How lo-

Weiss: Exactly 30 HOURS! And in those 30 hours, I've had plenty of time to think. And I've decided... I don't care.

Blake: You don't ca-

Weiss: I don't care that you used to be a member of the white fang. I only care that next time something this big happens, you tell us. Also, no more secrets. No more "Oh, they don't need to know this". This team isn't on a need-to-know basis, it's a should-know basis.

Blake: Ok. Thank you for understandi-

Ruby: Yah! TEAM RRWBY IS BACK TOGETHER!

Rocket: I wonder if Blake will ever finish a sentence.

Blake: Maybe I would if people would stop INTERRUPTING M-

Yang: Who knows? Maybe one day…

And with that, the first semester of team RRWBY continued relatively uneventfully. We should still have 3 ½ more years at Beacon, though, and those years are bound to be packed with excitement.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

POV: Omniscient

In the city of Vale, people were preparing for the Vytal Festival later that summer. The streets were bustling and stores were renovating. Among the humming crowds, a slim, green-haired girl stood out. She walked along, looking slightly confused. Finally, when she saw a man standing out in front of his shop, she walked up to him.

Girl: Hey, um... I'm not really from around here. Could you please point me in the direction of this store?/

She handed the man a slip of paper. He nodded and gave her directions. As she waved goodbye, she passed an alley. No one even noticed the young boy step out of the alley and fall into step next to her. Despite his young age, he had grey hair.

Boy: I knew we were lost.

Girl: Mercury, I will actually pay you to shut up.

Mercury: We both know that's not your wallet.

Girl: But it could be yours for five minutes of silence.

Mercury: Hm... No deal.

Girl: Whatever.

She deftly took the money out of the wallet and dropped the wallet itself as she kept walking. After all, if the wallet was found on her person, the IDs inside would give away it's true owner, the man she had gotten directions from.

Mercury: So, how much further?

Girl: Only a few more blocks.

Mercury: Geez... this place is so dull!

Girl: Eh, I kinda like it. Tall buildings, diverse culture-

Mercury: And nice, dopey people who're easy to pickpocket.

Girl: That's every big city.

Mercury: Oh, Emerald, master thief, please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!

His mocking tone was enough to earn a glare that would turn normal people to stone. Not Mercury, though.

Mercury: You're no fun today...

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

It was a new year, and I was ready. We had just gotten back to Beacon, but we still had 1 week until classes actually started. We were all eating our first lunch back in the new school year, when Ruby walked in with a binder almost bigger than her. She slammed it on the table to get our attention.

Ruby: Friends! Sisters! Weiss. (There was a short scoff from Weiss) four score and 7 minutes ago, I had a dream to have the best semester ever!

Rocket: I think she just combined 3 different speeches…

Weiss: She actually planned for something? I'm impressed.

Ruby: We only have 1 week left before classes start, and I plan to fill it with as many interesting activities as possible. So let's start off the semester with a bang! Who's with me?

Yang: I always start my semester off, with a YANG!

We heard boos from the table behind us. I ducked right before a tomato would have hit me. Instead it hit Yang, who threw an apple back.

Blake: I think I might sit all that out…

Weiss: Sit out or not, I think everything we do, we should do as a team.

She stood up, suddenly filled with passion.

Weiss: We sho-

That was when the pie hit Weiss in the face. We looked over, and everyone was covering their faces, except for Nora who was pointing at Ren. A food fight was about to begin.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Sun was walking to the dining hall. The entire way, though, he was talking to a student with blue hair.

Sun: ...And then we were fighting side-by-side! I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds totally gross, but it was awesome!

Boy: Nice.

Sun: And the best part, is that she's a faunas- Wait, that's a secret.

Boy: Got it.

Sun: And it's not the 'I'm gonna go tell Scarlet the second Sun turns his back' kind of secret, either.

Boy: Got it.

Sun: Like, SECRET secret-

Boy: Dude, I got it. It's fine.

Sun: It's just... I really don't wanna screw this up. The people here are the COOLEST- no offense to you guys.

Boy: None taken.

Sun: Ok, they should be just in here. I can't WAIT for you to meet them, so be cool, ok? Can you be cool?

Boy: Dude.

They arrived at the dining hall, just as a crowd of students ran by them on their way out.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

Nora: I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!

Nora had quickly built herself a massive fortress out of tables and vending machines. The rest of the team was standing at various areas around the castle.

Ruby: Justice will be swift. Justice will be painful. It will be... Delicious!

As the team rallied behind RWBY, immediately JNPR started by throwing watermelons at us.

Ruby: Yang, turkeys!

Apparently, there had been some sort of planning and strategizing that I hadn't seen, because Yang immediately knew what she meant. There were around 14 watermelons being thrown at us. Yang ran forward, and rolled. While she was rolling, she picked up 2 turkeys and used them as gloves. She started punching every single watermelon out of the air. While she was doing that, Blake ran forward with 2 breadsticks, meeting in the middle with Pyrrha, who had 1. Somehow Pyrrha kept up. Inevitably, the bread broke. Blake jumped back, picking up a string of sausages, which she used as a whip. She quickly disarmed Pyrrha, and then knocked her down. This entire time, I had been looking for anything scythe shaped. Not finding anything, I improvised. I took some spaghetti, and tied 2 breadsticks together in the shape of a scythe.

Rocket: Hah!

I brandished my new scythe... then it fell completely apart. I just decided to sit down and watch for a bit. Ruby joined the fight in the most interesting way possible, by using a tray as a skateboard. Pyrrha knocked out Blake, then threw her breadstick like a javelin, aimed at Ruby. Ruby bounced it back with considerable force, as it hit Jaune in the face, knocking him out. Pyrrha grabbed another breadstick, while Weiss picked up a swordfish and entered the fray. She immediately engaged with Pyrrha, and won. Then Nora began to fight with Weiss. Nora had grabbed a pipe, and stuck it through a watermelon to make a makeshift hammer. Weiss' sword fish didn't stand a chance. She had speed, but Nora had actual power. Seeing she was outmatched, she used her glyphs to launch Nora back. Nora hit the vending machines with a crash, and had an idea. She picked up a can of soda, and threw it. It was "People Like Grapes" soda, which is known for its high carbonation level. That extra carbonation went a long way because when the can hit the ground, it went off like a grenade. Pyrrha, who had just woken up, had an idea. She used her semblance to pick up all of the cans in the area and launch them at Blake, who had also just woken up. Blake inevitable went down completely. Weiss re-engaged with Nora, and got launched into a pillar, which scattered fully. Ruby caught her.

Ruby: Weiss! Don't leave me. NOO!

Yang ran by Ruby, grabbing two more turkeys as she went. Then she started dueling with Ren. She absolutely decimated him, smashing him into the floor. Nora then went up against Yang with the same setup as before. Yang went for a punch, while Nora went for an upward smash with her hammer. Nora was faster. Yang was launched through the roof, leaving a huge gap. Ruby was the last one standing. All of JNPR was starting to wake up. Ruby had a last-ditch plan. She started running. Fast. Then she burst into rose petals and spun, creating a tornado effect. All of the cans that Pyrrha hadn't used were caught up in it, along with all of team JNPR. Ruby then stopped in front of the wall, and the wind she had created cracked it. She jumped out of the way of the carnage. The wind smashed JNPR against the wall and held them there while all of the cans and other rubble were sent flying to the wall. The entire wall was painted like tie-dye. Ruby landed in front of them, just as team JNPR slid off the wall, leaving clear areas on the wall where they had previously covered up.

Sun: I love these guys.

The kid who was with him was absolutely covered in food. Before the other kid could respond, Glynda came bursting into the room.

Rocket: This isn't going to be good...

She raised her "wand", and suddenly, everything started to fix itself. Tables floated back into place. Broken pieces of pottery remade plates and bowls.

Glynda: Children, please. Do not play with your food.

The rest of team RRWB- wait..

Rocket: Where's Yang?

Suddenly there was a crash as Yang broke through the ceiling and landed on a table, re-smashing it. Glynda looked like she was about to lose it, when Ozpin came in.

Ozpin: Let them be kids, at least for a bit longer.

Glynda: They are supposed to be the defenders of the world.

Ozpin: And they will, but first they need to be children. It isn't a role they'll have forever.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

The door to Tukson's Book Trade tinkled open, letting Emerald and Mercury walk inside. The store, like the title of 'Book Trade' would suggest, was filled with books of all kinds. Mercury even found a comic book to distract himself with. They were stacked from the floor to the ceiling around the whole perimeter of the room. Emerald walked to the counter, set into the back wall of the store. No one was behind it, but a small bell was sitting on it. She rang the bell.

?: Just a minute!

She heard the muffled voice of a man from the back of the store. After a few seconds, a man came up behind the counter with a couple more giant stack of books. He set them down, and wiped his hands on the front of his shirt.

?: Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade: Home to every book under the sun. I'm Tukson. How may I help you?

Mercury: Eh, just browsin'.

Emerald: Actually, I was wondering... Do you have any copies of 'The Thief and the Butcher'?

Tukson: Yes we do.

Emerald: That's great!

There was a bit of silence.

Tukson: Um... Would you... Like a copy...?

Emerald: No- Oh, how about 'Violet's Garden' in paperback?

Mercury: He's got it. Hardback, too.

Emerald: Options are nice... Hm... What about 'Third Crusade'?

Tukson: Um... I don't believe we carry that one.

Mercury: Ooh...

Mercury set down the comic book he was skimming through, and moved over to the light switch.

Emerald: Huh. What was this place called again?

Tukson: Tukson's Book Trade.

Emerald: And you're Tukson.

Tukson: Yep.

Emerald: Then I presume you're the one who came up with that catchphrase?

Mercury: Oh yeah, what was that catchphrase again?

Tukson sighed.

Tukson: 'Tukson's Book Trade: Home to every book under the sun'-

Mercury: Except 'Third Crusade'.

Tukson: Well, that's just a catchphrase-

Mercury: It's false advertisement is what it is.

Emerald: You know, Tukson, you shouldn't make promises you can't keep.

Mercury reached over to the switches and flipped one. All at once, the two windows at the front of the store went black. Now, the store was only illuminated by inside lights.

Emerald: I recently heard a funny rumor. I heard that you were leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo. Your brothers in White Fang aren't very happy to hear that, and neither are we.

Mercury dimmed the indoor lights. The room was now almost completely dark, except for a small lamp Tukson kept on the counter.

Emerald: You know who we are, don't you?

Tukson: Yes.

Emerald: And you know why we're here?

Tukson: Yes.

Emerald: Now... Are you going to fight back?

Tukson closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then claws suddenly came out of the tips of his fingers.

Tukson: Yes!

He took a step back and then jumped over the counter at Emerald. As he was about to come into contact with her, though, she disappeared. Time seemed to slow down for Tukson, as he looked up, still hanging in midair, at Mercury throwing his foot forward in a roundhouse kick.

 _Bang_

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Emerald and Mercury stepped out of Tukson's Book Trade, their job done. Emerald noticed Mercury was still holding a comic book.

Emerald: What's that?

Mercury: Garbage.

He threw it in a nearby garbage can as the two slipped back into the bustling crowds of Vale.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

POV: Omniscient

Ozpin and Glynda were watching school campus from Ozpin's office, high above the school. A huge cluster of massive airships pulled into the landing pads. Turns out, the school doesn't have enough landing pads for this big of a part of the Atlas military. Ozpin watched as large battallions of soldiers walked off the ships.

Glynda: General Ironwood certainly loves to bring his work with him wherever he goes.

Ozpin: Running both an Academy and a Military makes him a busy man... But yes, those are quite the eyesore.

On his desk behind him, a screen lit up. It read 'Access requested'. Ozpin didn't even have to check the cameras to know who it would be.

Ozpin: Come in!

The door to his office opened, allowing General Ironwood himself to step inside.

Ironwood: Ozpin!

Ozpin: Hello, General.

Ozpin stepped around his desk to welcome his friend.

Ironwood: Please, drop the formalities. It has been too long...

Just then, he noticed the smaller form of Glynda behind Ozpin.

Ironwood: And Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we last met.

Glynda: Oh, James...

Then, she dropped the mocking tone and reverted back to normal, more serious voice.

Glynda: I'll be outside.

With that, she walked right past Ironwood without another word.

Ironwood: Hmph. She hasn't changed a bit.

Ozpin: So, what in the world has brought you all the way here from Atlas. Headmasters normally don't travel with their students for the Vytal Festival.

Ironwood: Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year. Besides... with you hosting, I was hoping we could have a chance to catch up.

Ozpin: While I do appreciate quality time between friends, the fleet outside my window has me somewhat worried.

Ironwood: Well, worry is what brought them here.

Ozpin: I understand travel between kingdoms has grown increasingly difficult, but-

Ironwood: Oz, we both know why I brought these men.

Ozpin sighed and set down his ever-present mug of coffee.

Ozpin: We are in a time of peace. Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression.

Ironwood: But if what Qrow said is true-

Ozpin: If what Qrow said is true, we will prepare for it tactfully, and be ready to handle it. This is the Vytal Festival; a time to celebrate peace and unity. I suggest you don't scare people by transporting thousands of soldiers across the continent.

Ironwood: I'm just being ready-

Ozpin: As am I. That's why I will continue to train the best huntsmen and huntresses I can.

Ironwood: As am I... But ask yourself this: Can your children win a war?

Ozpin: I hope they never have to.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Emerald and Mercury were in a large storage shed. Around them, the white fang was unloading huge boxes of dust from the airships. As they walkedd, they spotted a familiar, red-haired man.

Roman: Oh look! She sent the kids again.

As he spoke he walked over to them.

Roman: This is turning out just like the divorce...

Emerald: Ugh... Please spare us the thought of you procreating.

Roman: That was a joke. And this...

He held up a scroll. Emerald's, to be specific.

Roman: ...Might just tell me where you've been all day.

Emerald: What!?

Roman: I'm a professional sweetheart. Take notes. Maybe you'll learn something.

As he was holding the scroll, a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. He picked it up.

Roman: ...Why do you have this address?

Emerald: Wouldn't you like to know.

Roman: Yes, I would. Where've you two been all day?

Mercury: Cleaning up your problems. Well, one of them, at least.

Roman: I had that under control.

Emerald: Really? Because two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale would say otherwise.

Roman: Listen here, you little punks. If it were up to me, I would take you, and-

?: And do what, Roman?

A woman with black hair and glowing orange eyes walked up behind Roman.

Emerald: Cinder!

Roman: I'd... uh... Not kill them?

Cinder: I thought I had made it clear that you were to eliminate that runaway, yourself.

Roman: I was going to, but-

Emerald: HE was going to let the guy get all the way to Vacuo. We decided, if he wasn't going to do it, we would go and kill the rat.

Mercury: I think he was some kinda cat, actually.

Emerald: What, like a puma?

Mercury: Yeah, something like that-

Cinder: ...And did I not specifically tell you two to keep your hands clean while you were here?

Emerald: I just thought-

Cinder: Don't think, obey.

Emerald: Yes ma'am. It won't happen again.

Cinder: And you.

She turned back to Roman.

Cinder: Why wasn't this job done sooner?

Roman: Well, I'm sorry I've been a bit busy stealing ever speck of dust in the kingdom!

Mercury: You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski-mask.

Roman: Look around. I've got this town running scared. Police at every corner, dust prices through the roof... And we're sitting pretty in an old shed with more dust crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with! Oh, that reminds me... If you wouldn't mind filling me in on you grand scheme and why the HE** we need this much dust, it might just make my next string of robberies go a bit smoother.

Cinder: Oh, Roman... Have a little faith. You'll know what you need to know when you need to know it. For now, we're done with dust robbery. Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you the co-ordinates later.

Roman: Co-ordinates?

Cinder: We're moving on to phase two.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We were in the library, but we were nowhere near quiet. It was still 6 day until classes started back up, and team RWBY was playing The World of Remnant Board Game™. Meanwhile, I was reading, along with the entirety of team JNPR. Well, Nora was asleep and Jaune as actually reading a comic book, but I digress. Apparently, the "no noise" rule doesn't apply in high school libraries, becau-

Yang: Pretty sneaky sis, but you just activated my trap card!

Ruby: Whaaaaat?!

Yang: Giant nevermore! If I roll a 1 or a 2, it destroys all of your forces!

Ruby: But if you roll a 4, 5, or 6, then it'll turn on your own troops, destroying your entire army!

Yang: That's just a risk that I'm willing to take!

Rocket: Remember when the library used to be for reading?

Ren: Thank you!

Next thing I knew, Ruby was on the table, bawling.

Ruby: Why did it have to be a 2?!

Yang: Ok Weiss, your turn.

Weiss: I… have no idea what I'm doing.

Yang: Well, actually, the game is pretty easy. You see, you have atlas-

At that point, I just tuned them out. That is, until I heard Weiss laughing maniacally.

Weiss: All of Remnant will be mine! MINE! Mwahaha, AHAHAHAHAH-

Yang: Trap card.

Weiss: Huh?

Yang: All of your forces have been destroyed.

And then, Weiss was on the table, bawling.

Rocket: This game seems to be emotionally devastating.

Yang: Alright, your turn Blake.

Blake hadn't been paying attention in the slightest.

Blake: Huh?

Yang: It's your turn.

Blake: Oh, I don't think I'm going to play anymore.

Rocket: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I'll cover for her.

I set my book down and took Blake's place at the table.

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We walked back into team RWBY's room since I basically only use mine for sleeping.

Yang: He totally cheated!

Ruby: You're just mad cause the rookie beat you.

Rocket: I have no idea what I was doing.

Blake started to walk into the side room we have for silent studying. Normally most of the team doesn't use it, because studying is social with them, but I've noticed Blake using it more and more often since the end of the last semester.

Weiss: STOP!

Rocket: _Oh boy. Weiss is mad again. What did we do this time?_

Weiss: Since we got back, you have been nothing but quiet, anti-social, and moody.

Yang: Sorry, but have you met Blake?

Weiss: I get it, that's your "thing", but you've been even more so recently. You promised you would tell us the next time something came up. So, Ms. Belladonna, what is wrong?

With the last sentence, she pointed at Blake.

Blake: It… It's Torchwick. He's been stealing dust all over the kingdom for so long... Something big is happening, and nobody seems to care!

Yang: Well, Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the huntsmen and the military, I'm sure they can handle it-

Blake: Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do. This isn't just a string of robberies. There's more going on here.

Weiss: I'm sure between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, and fighing for freedom, you four think you're ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells.

Ruby: Uh, who...?

Weiss: But before we go on a crazy, perilous adventure, let me once again be the voice of reason. We're just kids. We aren't ready for these kinds of villains.

Blake: And we may never BE ready! You think the bad guys are just going to sit there and wait until graduation day? They are out there planning right now, and they'll be coming soon. Whether we're ready or not.

Ruby: Let's put this to vote! Allinfavorofbecomingtheyoungesthuntressestosingle-handedlybringdownacorruptorganizationconspiringagainstthekingdomofVale, say aye.

Yang: Yes! I love it when you're feisty!

Weiss: I guess it could be fun…

Rocket: It does seem to be our best option here.

Ruby: None of you said aye…

Blake: Well I guess it's settled then. We're in this together.

Rocket: Is there any other way to handle this?

Ruby: Let's hatch a plan.

Yang: Yah!

Something dawned on Ruby as she gasped.

Ruby: I left my board game in the library!

Weiss: We're doomed…

Ruby: Be right back!

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POV: Omniscient

Ruby ran out into the hallway, and straight into a group of 3 people. The one on the right had gray hair, though he was still a teenager. The one on the left had green hair and red eyes. The one in the middle had black hair and didn't look like a teenager in the slightest. She had glowing orange eyes.

Ruby: Oof! Sorry…

Emerald: It's no big deal, just watch where you're going next time.

Ruby: I haven't seen you all around. Are you here for the festival?

Cinder: Yeah, I guess you could say that.

Ruby: Oh, your rooms are in the guest building.

Emerald: And where is that?

Ruby: If you are looking from the entrance of this building, it's on your right, three blocks down.

Cinder: Thanks. I guess we'll see you around.

Ruby: Yep! Hope to see you around! Welcome to Beacon!


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

POV: Rocket

It was the end of the day, and we were being forced to listen to another of Port's grand stories. He was in the beginning of the end of his story, when the bell rang, releasing us from classes. Jaune had been peppering Weiss with the usual sort of questions, which she hadn't even looked like she was paying attention to. When the bell rang, she answered "no" to every single one, except for, "Are you even listening?". We met back up in the room to make our final preparations, and to make sure everyone knows their role.

Ruby: Ok, let's just check one last time to make sure everyone knows what they are doing.

Weiss: I'll be going to the CCT for Vale, and getting as many files from the Schnee Libraries about the White Fang as I can.

Blake: I'll be going to one of the White Fang's favorite places to meet and give everyone jobs for upcoming raids. I'll see what their up to.

Yang: I know a guy on the shady side of town. He tends to know everything that goes on, and he still owes me a couple of favors.

Rocket: I'll be in the middle of the other 3 places as backup, just in case anyone needs me.

Ruby: Ok! Let's do this!

Sun: Yah!

Ruby: Sun?! How did you even get up here?

Sun: Oh, it's easy, I do it all the time.

Weiss: You WHAT?!

Sun: I climb trees all the time.

Weiss didn't seem fully convinced that that is what Sun meant.

Ruby: Sorry Sun, but we didn't want to get friends involved with this.

Sun: That's crazy! You should always get friends involved! That's why I brought Neptune.

We looked out the window.

Neptune: Sup.

That was the boy Sun was with before during the food fight. He was standing on a small ledge.

Blake: How did you even get up here?

Neptune: I have my ways. But seriously, can we come inside now? We are, like, really high up right now.

After Sun and Neptune came in, we integrated them into the plan.

Ruby: Ok. Sun, you go with Blake, and Neptune, you can go with Yang.

Weiss: Hey Ruby, wouldn't it make sense for you to go with Yang since she's your sister?

Ruby; Well, then who would go with you?

Weiss: I guess Neptune would have to go with me.

Yang: Remember how I said "shady" part of town? I would prefer it if Ruby didn't go there with me.

Weiss: But-

Ruby: Come on, Weiss!

Ruby dragged Weiss out of the room.

Rocket: I guess we're leaving. I can make it to anyone in the group within 5 minutes. If you can't call, just send a text to anyone else in the group, and they can alert me.

This was a system we had already had set up, but Sun and Neptune hadn't heard about it. After everyone left, I left for the middle of town. Yang was headed West, Ruby and Weiss were headed East, and Blake was going South.

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POV: Omniscient

Ruby and Weiss were headed to the tower. When they arrived, Ruby was in awe.

Ruby: I've never even seen something so BIG. I need a picture!

Weiss: Yep, it's around twice the size of Beacon tower, which is the only other tall structure in Vale

Ruby tried to get out her phone, but a random passerby bumped into her , knocking it out of her hand. The phone bounced away, down a flight of stairs, and landed at the feet of a certain girl with bright orange hair.

Penny: Ruby! Is this yours?

Ruby: Oh! Hey Penny. Yah, it is.

Penny: I was ju-

It was just then that she noticed an Atlas display. They were currently showing off the new Atlesian Paladin, a giant mech that could either be controlled remotely, or manually from inside a cockpit. Then they showed off the new Atlesian Knights. They had better AI, more strength, and way more durability. One of the human guards noticed Penny, and whispered to one of his coworkers, and they both started moving towards Penny.

Penny: I've got to go!

Penny ran away from the guards, and Ruby followed.

Ruby: What do they want from you?

Penny: I… I can't explain right now.

Ruby decided to stall the guards my spilling crates behind them, cutting off the guards.

Penny: Come on!

Ruby: I have an idea.

Ruby used her semblance, and tried to pick Penny up into the rose petals too, but penny was really heavy.

Ruby: Too… Heavy…

Ruby collapsed, and her consciousness lapsed. She landed in the middle of a road, a truck was coming, and Ruby was just waking up. Penny jumped in front of her and stopped the truck with her bare hands, cracking the concrete under her

Penny: Are you ok?

The man in the truck nodded. Penny picked up Ruby, and ran down an alley. The guards just got into the crowd when Penny and Ruby left.

Penny: Everything is ok *Hiccup*

Ruby: What was that? How did you do that? Why were those people after you?

Penny: I don't want to talk about it *Hiccup*

Ruby: You can tell me anything.

Penny: You're my friend, right?

Ruby: Of course!

Penny: Ruby, I'm not a real girl.

Penny opened her hands, revealing the place on her hands which stopping the truck had torn. It was metal underneath her skin.

Ruby: What?

Penny: Most girls are born. I was made.

Ruby: Then who is your father?

Penny: The man who built me! He cares very much about me! That's why he hired all those other men to keep me safe. They love to protect me.

Penny: Sorry about having to lie to you.

Ruby touched Penny's hands, then closed them.

Ruby: I don't care.

Penny: Huh?

Ruby: I don't care whether you are a real girl or not. So what, that you have nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts? You can still think. You still have a personality.

Penny: Oh, Ruby, you're the best friend a person could ask for!

Rocket: Well, you guys are loud.

Both Penny and Ruby were startled by Rocket's sudden appearance.

Ruby: Rocket! How much did you hear.

Rocket: Everything. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It doesn't matter to me, either.

Penny: That's good to hear.

Rocket: Also, there appear to be people coming.

Penny: Please hide. I don't want either of you to get in trouble.

Rocket: To the dumpster!

Ruby: But-

I grabbed Ruby and jumped into the dumpster, and the men arrived just a few seconds later.

Guard 1: There you are! You've been causing quite a lot of trouble.

Guard 2: Where is that girl that was with you?

Penny: Sorry, but I've been by myself all day.

Guard 1: Just, come with us. Your father has been worried.

After they left. Ruby and I got out of the dumpster. It had just been emptied, so there wasn't any trash in it. Ruby's scroll buzzed.

Ruby: They just sent me SOS.

Rocket: They need help. See if they can send coordinates or directions. Let's go.

Ruby: There is no way I'm missing this!


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

POV: Omniscient

When Blake and Sun left for the South side of town, with Blake looking for markers on the side of the street. After about 15 minutes of walking, they found it. 3 vertical slashes that could have just been a coincidence, but Blake knew otherwise.

Blake: Back here.

Sun: Ok, so how are we going to get in? Air duct? Back door?

Blake tossed him a gray, rectangular object.

Blake: Try, "The front door".

Sun looked at what Blake had thrown him. It was a grimm mask that all white fang recruits had to wear. If they stayed for a certain amount of time, they would get upgraded to a bigger mask. When he looked up, he realized Blake already had hers on. He quickly put his on, and they left. Just before the door, he thought of something.

Sun: If what you believe what you're doing is right, then why hide who you are?

Blake: Their symbolic. Humanity made monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters.

Sun: Creepy.

Blake: Yah, well so is the guy who started it.

They continued walking, and eventually made it to the actual meeting place. It changed every meeting, rotating at random between 4 or 5 different places. They scratched a different place depending on where the upcoming meeting was going to be held.

White Fang Guard: New recruits to the right.

The meeting was taking place in a large warehouse, that had a big wooden stage set up in the middle. There was also a curtain rigged to the ceiling. Sun and Blake joined the crowd of other recruits on the right side of the stage. There was a muscular white fang member with a slightly bigger mask than everyone else. Since, in the white fang, mask size showed rank, Blake deduced that he was a lieutenant.

Lieutenant: Hello everybody! I would like to introduce to you, one of our most beloved partners. He joined us a bit back and has been nothing but help to us since. Roman, come on out.

Roman Torchwick walks out from behind the curtains and was met with a storm of boos.

Roman: Thank you, thank you. You're too kind.

White fang recruit: What's a human doing here?!

Roman: I am glad you asked. I would have to agree with you, that humans are, in fact, the worst. But I realized something big a while ago. We have the same enemy, you and I. The ones in charge. Those nasty humans who have run your lives into the ground. They're a pest. Luckily, I'm the best exterminator around. No offense to any, small animal faunas.

A small ring of laughter ran around the room. He was already starting to be a bit more accepted here.

Roman: Now, my employer has given me a fair bit of resources to complete my job. And that includes this.

As he said that, he pulled the tarp off of a giant object next to him. What had first appeared to be an unused and abandoned machine in the old warehouse, was revealed to be an Atlesian Paladin.

Roman: Now, if you want to stay at home, and leave this fight to others, that's fine. But if you want to join your brothers in the south-east quadrant and go up against the government, this is the firepower I can provide you.

Blake: How did he get his hands on one of those? They aren't even being produced commercially, yet.

Finally, the Lieutenant stepped back up to the stage.

Lieutenant: Before we wrap things up, I would like all new recruits to meet me behind the stage to be welcomed into the white fang.

Sun: What do we do now?

If Blake and Sun went behind the curtains, at least Blake would certainly be recognized. They had to leave.

Blake: We need to disappear.

Roman was scanning the new recruits and noticed them. He thought he remembered them from somewhere.

Sun: He sees us…

Sun waved amicably. Roman finally recognized them.

Blake: He can't see in the dark.

Then, before Roman could say anything, she shot the electrical box. While the lights were out she and Sun started to run.

Roman: After them!

Blake: Quick! To the window!

There was a quick second of silence, except for a mechanical whir of a machine starting up. Then, Blake and Sun were out the window, shattering it, and once again letting lights into the warehouse. Close on their heels though, Roman was chasing after them in the new Atlesian Paladin. They were only barely able to stay ahead.

Sun: We need back-up!

Blake: On it!

She quickly texted Yang and began moving in a northwest direction.

Blake: _I just hope she's ready when we get there..._

POV: Omniscient

Yang parked her motorcycle and got off. Neptune sat there stunned for a second, before shaking his head and getting off too. I guess that's what Yang hair will do to you after around a 5-minute drive with it in your face.

Yang: Ok, this is where my friend is. Remember, when we get inside, I'll do the talking.

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From Junior's perspective, a couple of his men just ran inside and shut the sliding doors. They were 5-inch thick concrete and made to resist a rocket launcher.

Junior: What are you two idiot's doing?

Guards: Uh, it's her! You know the one with uh, with... uh… the… ha-

Suddenly the concrete doors were blasted wide open and Yang stepped inside.

Yang: Guess who's back?

Within seconds she had around 20 guns aimed for her face.

Neptune: Soooo… Can you define "friend" for me?

There was the faint click of the Ember Celica going out of bracelet mode.

Junior: STOP! Nobody. Shoot. So, uh… Blondie. You're here. Why...?

Yang: You still owe me a drink.

Suddenly she grabbed Junior's arm and dragged him through the crowd of guards.

Neptune: What a woman.

He then immediately turned to two twins standing against the wall.

Neptune: Ladies.

Both: Hmph. Whatever.

Yang had dragged Junior over to the bar and sat him down.

Yang: Remember this little scenario?

Junior: Yes ma'am ah, sir…

Yang: First of all, one strawberry sunrise, please!

Then she turned to Junior. A fate worse than death.

Yang: So… I need some information.

Junior: And why would I tell you after what you did last time?

Yang balled her fists.

Junior: Ok, what do you want to know?

Yang: I want to know everything you know about Roman Torchwick.

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Yang and Neptune were standing outside.

Yang: I can't believe he didn't know ANYTHING.

Neptune: Yah, there are some places where he probably wasn't telling the truth, but I don't think any of them apply to what we were asking him.

Yang: Hey, at least I got a cool drink out of the deal.

Yang's scroll buzzed.

Yang: Uh oh.

Neptune: What?

Yang: Blake and Sun might be in trouble. I'll send word to everyone.

As she texted everyone, Ruby sent back a question.

Yang: Wait, where the heck are they?

As soon as she sent the text, she heard what sounded like metallic footsteps at a running speed. Suddenly, Blake and Sun passed by on the main road, followed quickly by a huge mech.

Sun: OVER HEEEEEEEEEEE-

They went by the opening in the intersection, and the sound was cut off.

Neptune: I think that was them…

Yang: Yeah, I know. Hang on!

They got on the motorcycle and left within seconds.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

POV: Rocket

I'm so glad they gave team leaders trackers for their team's scrolls. We were able to pinpoint Blake's exact location using it, and we calculated where to intercept their path. We got in touch with Weiss, Blake, and Yang to make a plan, and then we were off.

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We ended up on the highway and knew we had exactly 1 minute before Blake and Sun arrived. We got set up, and then got on the p-comms. The p-comm system was a system of earpieces I had set up that allowed us to talk through earpieces as if we were right next to each other. They had a 5-mile radius.

Ruby: Is everyone here?

Weiss: I'm in position.

Rocket: I'm in position.

Yang: I'm in position!

Blake: And I'm sick of having him trailing me.

Ruby: Then let's get rid of him.

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POV: Omniscient

Yang had been following Blake and Sun a bit behind the robot since there was no way for her to get ahead, and her bright orange motorcycle would definitely make her stand if she followed right behind them. Then, the plan started.

Yang: We need to slow it down!

Neptune: On it!

He quickly pulled his gun from off his back and tried to get it set up. He was interrupted by the motorcycle suddenly swerving every direction possible. Instead of Roman pushing cars out of his way, leaving a nice path for Yang and Neptune, he began throwing them over his head, meaning Yang had to dodge. After a small wave of cars, Roman ran out of cars in front of him. Then, Neptune was able to fully get out his gun, and begin shooting at the mech. Roman felt the shake from the explosions, but the Paladin was too durable to actually be affected. Then, Neptune's gun transformed into a glowing blue pike. He stood up slowly on the bike and jumped onto the robot's back. Roman suddenly started shaking the robot's torso back and forth. Blake and Sun jumped on the two cars in front of them and took a small breather. Sun noticed Neptune being shaken every which way.

Sun: Hold on, Neptune!

Sun concentrated for a few seconds, and then two glowing yellow versions of him popped into existence and jumped at the Paladin. They hit the Paladin exploding and shaking it quite a bit again, but not dealing any lasting damage. Then, he followed the clones, jumping at the Paladin with his weapon out. Neptune's grip finally gave out, and he and his weapon were sent flying into Sun, and both fell over the side. Roman then hit another section with actual traffic, and more cars were sent at Yang. She was able to avoid most of them, but one was just about to hit her.

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POV: Rocket

It was my turn. I jumped down from a section of the highway that was higher up and cut the car in half. The driver was jettisoned and landed safely behind us. Yang skidded to a halt next to me. When Roman looked back in front of him, he realized that Blake had had a chance to escape. Then he stopped, around 100 feet in front of us. Yang got off her motorcycle, took off her helmet, and activated her gauntlets. The robot started running at us. I waited for 6 seconds. They felt like an eternity.

Rocket: NOW Weiss!

Weiss also jumped from the top highway and landed in front of us, covering a section of the road in ice. The Paladin didn't have time to stop and slid over the edge. Ruby and Blake were already on the ground under the highway, waiting for it. Weiss, Yang and I joined them.

Ruby: Now, let's finish him off.

Ruby is the one who takes command during the fight, since she is the best at reading the fight and telling us where we need to be.

Ruby: Frostburn!

When Ruby just shouts random words like that, it normally is a signal for a team attack. Frostburn referred to Weiss and Yang's team attack. Yang jumped into the air, and Weiss created a circle of ice, which Yang punched, created a huge cloud of fog. He began walking through the fog, with the guns aiming all around, scanning for some sort of target.

Ruby: Petalburst!

Petalburst was me and Ruby, and it was her idea. It was based on the scissoring move we did back in the Emerald Forest. When she shouted it, all the guns snapped in her direction. That left him perfectly open to me. I ran forward from behind him and hooked my scythe over his biggest gun. The turret immediately turned around, but I was spinning around it, using my scythe. While the gun was distracted, Ruby dash forward and hooked her scythe around it too. We both pulled, cutting the gun off. Then we disappeared back into the fog, with bullets flying after us.

Ruby: Ladybug!

Lady was the one for Ruby and Blake. Basically, Ruby dashed behind the bot, and they both attacked simultaneously. When he saw their pattern, they disappeared and went above him. Then they both launched themselves down, and slashed his arm off.

Ruby: Checkmate!

Checkmate was complete improvisation from Blake and Weiss. They started with a frontal assault. When Roman was about to punch Blake, Weiss used her glyphs to pull her out of the way. Then Roman got a lock on them with the missile launchers. They began to backflip out of the way. The explosions barely missed them, except for one missile, which fired late. That one nailed Weiss, who used her last moments of consciousness to fire off one last glyph. This one was gold in color and made a clock, which was running fast. The clock slowed down, and then absorbed into Blake, making her glow purple. She turned to face Roman. He fired a second salvo of missiles, and she individually cut every single one in half within seconds.

Ruby: Nightblast!

Nightblast was a well-practiced team attack with me and Blake. We both used our semblances to create mass chaos. She could use her clones to dodbe pretty much everything, while I could almost teleport. Roman never knew where we were for more than a second. The result was rapid-fire impacts all over the mech, and we were able to disappear back into the mist. Weiss was back up and had recovered.

Ruby: Frostbolt!

Frostmissile was where Weiss basically helped me decimate an opponent. She set up around 20 glyphs around the mech, and I ran up, launching myself around him using the glyphs. There is no real way for most people to see which one I will launch myself to next. Roman sure had no idea. That is, until I ran out glyphs to bounce off of. I simply jumped off the back of the mech, and got uppercut into the bottom of the highway above us. Since I was launched up, I was barely able to survive, but my aura was broken and I was falling. I sank into unconsciousness.

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POV: Omniscient

Rocket was falling. Right before he would have hit the pavement and probably died, Ruby used her semblance to fly over him. She somehow grabbed him and absorbed him into the petalburst. When she landed, she almost passed out from the effort. Thankfully, when she went out of the petalburst, he was on the ground. He was still fully unconscious though. When Ruby turned back to the fight, Yang was on the back of the mech, trying to break in through the top. It quickly rocketed itself backward into a concrete pole. It broke through the pole almost undamaged, but Yang was knocked off by the impact. While she was falling the mech turned around and punch her through two more concrete poles, both of which were destroyed by her body. Her aura was flickering.

Blake: Yang!

Ruby: Don't worry, she'll be fine.

Weiss: She was just launched through two concrete poles!

Ruby: It's her semblance. It allows her to take a bunch of hits, but fight back using that energy.

As she was saying this, Ro-mech was advancing on Yang, ready to finish her off. She slowly staggered up and opened her eyes. They were no longer the usual lilac they had been before, but now they were fire red. Her hair also seemed to be glowing. Ro-mech didn't take any of this into account though. He just aimed one more punch at her. Instead of the fist punching her and killing her, she caught it with one hand. With her other hand, she prepared a punch of her own. This one, though, went fully through and destroyed his other arm. So instead, he just kicked her.

Ruby: Bumblebee!

Bumblebee is the team attack for Yang and Blake. In it, Blake throws Yang the Gambol Shroud, and holds onto the ribbon. Yang catches the sword, and Blake swings it around like a sling. This put immeasurable force behind Yang's punch. Of course, even though it was aim perfectly at the robot, he just jumped backward.

Ruby: We need to slow it down.

Weiss: And how do you propose we do that?

Ruby: Ice Flower!

Finally, Ice Flower is the team attack that involves Weiss setting up a couple of ice glyphs in front of Ruby's barrel. When she fired, the bullet was imbued with the power of ice, creating giant clumps of ice all over the mech. This slowed it down just enough for it to be unable to jump out of the way. Yang's hair left a trail of fire, as she was swung around one last time. And this time, she didn't miss.

The mech suit was launched backward, and Roman was jettisoned as the mech fell apart. He rolled on the ground once before standing on his feet once more. He brushed the dust off his suit.

Roman: I just got this thing cleaned…

Yang fired one solitary shot at him, and it appeared to hit from the perspective of team RWBY, but when the dust cleared, they saw that a woman with a pink umbrella had blocked the bullet with her umbrella. She had a pink, white, and brown color scheme, thus earning her the nickname "Neo" from everyone.

Roman: Ladies. Ice queen (Weiss: Hey!). It appears it is time for me to go. I am a very busy man after all.

Yang ran forward, ahead of the group, and punched. When she punched them, the image of them turned into glass, which sent shards everywhere. Yang calmed down after a minute or two, and people felt it was safe to get generally near her.

Weiss: Well, I guess she made our plans, *fall apart*?

Everyone just started to walk away, groaning.

Blake: There's a time and place for everything.

Weiss: Was that not it?

Yang: No, it just wasn't very good.

Weiss: Well at least I was trying!

Ruby: Wait, Rocket!

They had completely forgotten about Rocket throughout the course of the fight.

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POV: Rocket

I woke up and immediately felt something was wrong. Everything was silent. Since I still hadn't opened my eyes, I did so. There was a pile of scrap on the ground. That was probably was left of the robot. But where is the rest of the team? I tried to stand up but fell back to my knees.

Ruby: Oh, you're ok!

Blake: You had us worried for a bit.

Rocket: I have the biggest headache ever, and everything is sore... What happened while I was out.

Ruby: Yang got mad.

Rocket: Ah. Well, that explains the absolute carnage in front of me, but was anyone injured during the fight?

Yang: No, but Roman escaped...

I noticed her hair seemed to be glowing, and her eyes were a deep red.

Rocket: Anyone who isn't pissed off at the world want to explain?

We went back to our rooms. While we walked back, they explained the fight to me. We checked off the last day of our break. Tomorrow, school started back up.

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POV: Omniscient

Sun and Neptune were sitting at a noodle stand. After they had been knocked off the road, they had given up on catching up and gone to the "Simple Wok" noodle stand.

Neptune: You think they're ok?

Sun: Eh, they're probably fine.


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

POV: Rocket

Weeks had gone by since the fight against the Ro-bot, and things seemed normal. Except, of course for the fact that the DANCE was coming up. Basically, it was a chance for guys all over the school to ask the girls they had a crush on out to the dance. The fun part was watching the ones that didn't work. For instance, we were hanging out in the girls' room, when we heard a knock. Weiss walked over and opened the door. Jaune was standing at the door with a guitar.

Jaune: Wei-

Weiss slammed the door in his face.

Jaune: Aw come on! Please open the door…

She didn't.

Jaune: I promise I won't sing.

She thought about it for a second, shrugged, and opened the door.

Jaune: I lieeeed!

She slammed the door again. This time, I think it hit his head.

Yang: And THAT is why they call you the Ice Queen.

Weiss: What? All my life boys have only been interested in the family name and the money that comes with it.

Rocket: Jaune didn't even know who Pyrrha was when he saw her. I doubt he has connected your name with the company.

Weiss: Well, even then, I already have a date in mind.

Yang: And who might that be?

Weiss: It's-

Blake slammed the door open. She had bags under her eyes. She walked over and plopped down into her bed, and pulled her scroll out. She was looking at news stories on the white fang.

Ruby: Still thinking about Torchwick?

Blake: Torchwick, the white fang, all of it!

Yang: There isn't anything else we can do about right now.

Blake: Except no one knows the white fang like I know them!

Yang: Stop beating yourself up about this. We already destroyed his main weapon against us. When you worry about this, you get less sleep. Your grades are suffering.

Blake: Do you think I care about grades?

Rocket: Well, has the research you've been doing brought any new information?

Blake: Wha- Um… No.

Rocket: Then you don't need to kill yourself for this if it's not bringing new intel. It would be better to rest first, then go back refreshed.

Blake: I'M. FINE. I can handle a little less sleep. I can take it.

Rocket: But that doesn't mean you should only sleep 2 hours a night.

Blake: I'm going back to the library.

The entire group exchanged glances. We all knew. Blake couldn't keep going like this. Before she could leave, Weiss stopped her.

Weiss: You could at least give yourself a couple of days to relax. Maybe until after the dance?

Blake: 3 days? We don't have that luxury. I don't even like dancing anyways…

The way she said that I'm not completely convinced.

Yang: Well, since Weiss and I are planning the entire event, can make sure you have the best night ever!

Blake: You guys are doing WHAT?!

Weiss: Team CFVY's mission ran longer than expected, so they needed us to cover for them.

Blake: You guys are ridiculous.

Sun: You know what isn't ridiculous? How about me and you at the dance.

Blake: I'm done.

Blake stormed out quickly, not even looking at Sun.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Later that day, Jaune was sitting on his bed with his aching head in his hands. Ren walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

Jaune: Hey Ren, can we talk?

Ren: uhh…

Jaune: I know you don't talk much, but dangit, I consider you the brother I never had.

Ren: Uh… same…?

Jaune: So, I had to get your opinion on... girls.

Ren: Girls…?

Jaune: I just… how do I… girls. Does that make sense?

Ren: Was that a sentence?

Jaune: It… It's just… how do I put this… How do.. How do you and Nora do it?

Ren got a bit frantic to not be in the current situation.

Nora: Ehehehehe… We aren't really, you know… together together…

Jaune: Nora! HEADPHONES!

Nora quickly put her headphones back on.

Ren: Is this about Weiss?

Jaune: Yah, she denied me again. This time, I didn't even get any sort of sentence out.

Ren: Just.. um.. Ju-

Jaune: It's just, she's so smart and funny, and even talented. I mean, have you heard her sing?

Pyrrha: Then just speak your mind to her. Tell her why you think she is so perfect.

Jaune: Thanks Pyrrha. I will.

Pyrrha: Just remember th-there are other options...

Jaune: It's easy for you to say, you probably have people lined up to dance with you.

Pyrrha: Well, you'd be wro-

Jaune: Heh. If you don't get a date, I'll wear a dress.

Jaune walked out of the room. Ren also quickly walked into the closet to actually put clothes on.

Nora: Practice what you preach Pyrrha. Practice what you preach.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

That night, Jaune had his best uniform shirt on, and he was holding a solitary, white rose. He had a smile on his face because he was ready. He was about to turn a corner when he heard Weiss' voice.

Weiss: Neptune!

Neptune: Hey! It's, Weiss, right?

Weiss: Yes. Um, I know it's a little unorthodox, but I was wondering… will you go to the dance with me?

Neptune: Um, well...

Jaune didn't hear his answer. He had already left, leaving his solitary, white rose on the ground behind the pillar.


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

POV: Rocket

We were setting up the entire party. It was 2 days until the dance, and we were going to make it huge. Ruby was moping at the table, when Weiss walked up and slid her two tablecloths. They were both plain white.

Weiss: I need you to decide which tablecloth to use.

Ruby looked at them for around 0.462 seconds.

Ruby: Aren't they the same?

Weiss: I don't even know why I asked!

Yang walked back in, carrying a speaker that went up to the ceiling.

Yang: This party is going to be AWESOME! Have you picked out a dress yet, sis?

Ruby: What's the point if Blake isn't going?

Yang: Hmm, I might be able to fix that.

Weiss: All of us together already tried to convince her. How will you do it alone?

Yang: I'm going to try a different approach.

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POV: Omniscient

Blake had been researching the white fang attacks using the Beacon library computers for a while now, trying to find a pattern. She didn't know what time it was, and she really didn't care. She was about to fall asleep, but she was able to keep her eyes open through sheer willpower. She took her eyes off the screen for a second to get another drink of pure caffiene, when a red dot popped up on her screen. It moved off the computer, and on to her hand, proving it wasn't a part of the website she was using. She put her other hand on her hand, not really thinking straight. Of course, the dot just moved to on top of her other hand. Her brain started working again, and she realized that it was just a dot from a laser pointer. With it still on her hand, she just looked back at her screen, and tried to continue working, but then the dot went back onto the screen. Covering up what she was trying to read. She turned around quickly, trying to see if she could catch the person using the laser. When she didn't see anyone, she turned back to the computer. The dot was still there. It moved to the ground next to her and started moving away. She decided to follow it. She walked along with her eyes to the floor, an almost ran directly into Yang, holding a laser pointer.

Yang: Helllooooo! We need to talk.

Yang Grabbed Blakes arm and dragged her into one of the classrooms. Yang sat on the teacher's desk with her legs crossed. Blake began pacing.

Blake: I know what you're going to say.

Yang: You need to slow down.

Blake: We don't have the luxury of slowing down.

Yang: It's isn't a luxury, it's a necessity.

Blake: The necessity is stopping Torchwick.

Yang: And we will. But first, you need to listen to what I have to say.

Yang's Story

Ruby and I grew up on a small island called Patch. It's just off the mainland of Vale. Our dad, Tai, taught at Signal, and our mom, Summer, was a huntsman. She was Supermom. Slayer of evil monsters, and baker of cookies. But one day, she left on a mission, and never came back. It didn't take long for me to figure out what happened. Ruby was 2 at the time, so I don't think she really knew what was going on. After that, Tai just kind of, shut down. Summer wasn't the first love he lost. She was the second. The first one, was my mom, Raven. She left me right after I was born.

Blake: Why did she leave?

That question... I always wanted to know the answer, but I never found it out completely. One day, I found a hint that I thought would lead me to answers, or even my mother! I didn't even hesitate. When dad left for work, I put Ruby in a wagon and started walking. I must have walked for hours. When I finally made it, I was exhausted. But I had made it. But then, I saw them. Those burning, red eyes. A toddler asleep in a wagon, and a 5 year old too tired to even scream for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter. But then, my uncle Qrow showed up. He had been following us since we left the house. My stupidity should have gotten us killed that day.

POV: Omniscient

Blake: I see what you're trying to say, but you don't understand! This is different! I can stop hi-

Suddenly, Yang's eyes turned red.

Yang: No, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! What would you do if Torchwick walked through that door right now?

Blake: I would fight him!

Yang: You would LOSE!

Blake: I can stop him!

Yang pushed Blake.

Yang: How can you stop him if you can't even stop me!

Yang suddenly calmed down. Her eyes went from red to lilac, and she grabbed Blake's shoulders.

Yang: Please. Just get some rest. If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for the people who care about you.

Yang turned around and walked towards the door, but paused in the doorway.

Yang: And if you feel like coming out to the party, I'll save you a dance.


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

POV: Rocket

Sun and I were standing in front of the statue. The dance was going to be held in the assembly hall behind the statue, and I was teaching him how to tie a tie. Other than the white tie, nothing was different about his outfit, except that he was wearing a black jacket instead of a white one. As soon as he had figured it out, I went ahead and went inside.

Sun: Stupid neck trap…

Blake: I knew you would look better in a tie.

Blake walked up to him, and they fell into step.

Sun: So, does this mean we're going to the dance, together?

Blake: Yes, but my first dance is spoken for.

Directly inside, there was atrium. I had been waiting in there to see if Blake had come, but then I walked fully in. Yang was greeting everyone, and Weiss was making sure no one blew everything up. When I turned around, Ruby was walking in. Well, it wasn't exactly walking. Walking infers some level of grace or elegance. Ruby was stumbling in.

Yang: Aw, you look adorable.

Ruby: Weiss and I need to have a serious talk after this about how she fights in these...!

Ruby had heels on. Heels. Suck. To. Wear. Don't question how I know that.

Rocket: Those look like they hurt.

Ruby: They do.

Looking around, I noticed all of the other groups at the dance.

Ozpin and Glynda were talking, when Ironwood (I saw his picture in the news after he "invaded" Beacon, something I don't think Ozpin is happy about) walked up and offered his hand to Glynda. I also noticed Penny dancing in the corner. She was doing the robot. Ruby, Jaune and I had split up at first, but somehow all ended up next to the punch bowl.

Jaune: I can see you two are also hiding next to the punch bowl.

Both: Yep.

Rocket: To the socially awkward.

And so, we toasted to ourselves. I don't think any of us grasped how toasting worked.

Ruby: Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss, Jaune.

Jaune: Eh, Neptune's great guy. I don't real-

Rocket: Wait, Neptune? Weiss came to the dance alone.

We all glanced over at Weiss. She was trying to straighten a white rose, sitting in one of the vases. Every time she pushed it straight, it fell back over.

Jaune: Hold my punch.

Ruby grabbed it, and Jaune walked over to give a good talking-to to Neptune, but then he saw Pyrrha out of the corner of his eye. She was walking up the stairs to the balcony alone. Jaune followed her, instead.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Jaune: Hey Pyrrha!

Pyrrha: Hey, Jaune.

Jaune: You, uh… look nice.

Pyrrha: Thanks.

Jaune: I won't get beaten up for saying that, right?

Pyrrha: I think you're safe for now.

Jaune: So, uh... Where's the lucky guy?

Pyrrha: There is no guy, Jaune.

Jaune: What?

Pyrrha: No one asked me.

Jaune: But you're PYRRHA NIKOS! Who wouldn't want to go to the dance with you?

Pyrrha let out a deep sigh.

Pyrrha: I have been blessed with great talent on the battlefield. I have won tournaments and competitions all over the world. But when people place you on a pedestal like that, they believe you're too good for them. It has become impossible for me to have a personal relationship with anyone. That's what I liked about you, Jaune. When you first met me, you didn't even know my name. You were able to become my friend because of my personality, not just because of my fame.

Jaune: Pyrrha, I-

Pyrrha: I guess you're the type of guy I wish I was here with.

Jaune: Pyrrha…

Jaune didn't know what to say. Finally, he organized his thoughts and turned around to find Neptune walking outside. Pyrrha had already gone back inside. Neptune walked up next to Jaune.

Neptune: Dancing. Am I right? So boring. But hey, at least there are gi-

Jaune: Do you even care about the girls you hit on?

Neptune: Woah, where is this coming from?

Jaune: Do you care about how they feel?

Neptune: What is all this about?

Jaune: Weiss Schnee asked YOU to the dance. What in the WORLD could have made you turn her dow-

Neptune: Can't dance…

Jaune: What?

Neptune: I can't dance, man…

Jaune: But, you're so cool…

Neptune: I know, I try really, really hard.

Jaune: So you're telling me, that you would rather break a girl's heart, and go to a dance alone than admit to the world that you can't move to a beat?

Neptune: That about sums it up.

Jaune began walking away.

Neptune: Look, man, if you want Weiss, she's all yours.

Jaune; Just… Go talk to her.

Neptune: What?

Jaune: Just go talk to her. Trust me, it'll make her night.

Neptune: Thanks. You know, Jaune, you're a lot cooler than you're given credit.

Jaune: Alright, don't lie to my face.

Neptune walked away. Jaune looked through a window and saw that Neptune was, in fact, talking with Weiss, who had been sitting at a table alone.

Jaune: Ok... Now, I have a promise to keep.


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

POV: Rocket

Ruby and I were still chatting next to the punchbowl. I noticed Neptune walk over to Weiss, and he started talking with her. That was a risky move. Almost everyone at the had heard Weiss after he denied her a few days back. Suddenly, there was a commotion near the front door./

Dancer 1: What are you doing?!

Dancer 2: Ahahahah!

Dancer 3: Is that against the rules?

I looked up and saw something I hope to never see again. Jaune was in a white dress and walking through the crowd as if he was looking for someone. Pyrrha finally turned around and saw him.

Pyrrha: Oh, Jaune! You didn't have to!

Jaune: An Arc never goes back on his word. Now, are you going to stand there, or are you going to dance?

Pyrrha: I'd love to!

Nora: This... is... happening!

Ren: Uh, what?

Team JNPR then took over the dance floor, Ren taken by force, and somehow broke into a synchronized dance. I leaned over and whispered to Ruby.

Rocket: I think I figured out how to make our team work more coherently. Dance lessons!

That earned a giggle. Ruby had stopped focusing for a second, though, and lost her balance. She quickly focused all of her energy into staying upright and recovered.

Ozpin: Not really enjoying yourself, eh Ms. Rose?

Weird, I hadn't heard him walk up. That was probably due to the 30-foot tall speakers behind us, bu-

Ruby: No, I'm fine, I'm just not really one of those, fancy, pantsy, dancy girls.

Ozpin: Well, we can't spend our entire life on the battlefield you know.

Ruby: That lesson has kind of been around a lot nowadays...

Ozpin: Well, if you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't very different. Two partners, interlocked... Well, a mistake on the dance floor will only lead to a swollen foot.

Ruby: Or a twisted ankle…

Rocket: What kinda danc-

Ozpin: Please do at least try to have fun today. It isn't everyday friends get to come together like this.

Ruby: Yah, I guess…

As they were talking, I gazed out the window. There was someone running across the rooftops. I started walking towards the door, making sure people didn't notice me. Someone did. I had made it outside, and I was about to summon my locker.

Ruby: Hey, Rocket! Where are you going?

Rocket: I saw someone that looked like they're going to cause trouble, so I'm going to stop them. Care to join me?

Ruby: Sure, let me call my scythe.

We both called our lockers, and they landed at the same time. We grabbed our scythes and ran around the building in the general direction the person was heading.

Rocket: I would suggest taking off the heels. They might get in the way if there's a figh-

We stepped into the open area in front of the CCT tower. The guards were unconscious. Apparently, the attacker wasn't very good at hiding the bodies.

Rocket: We need to get in there!

Ruby: Isn't it off limits at this time, though?

Rocket: What it is, is under attack.

We ran inside, to see all of those guards also knocked out.

"Rocket: This person has to be a skilled fighter to knock out all of these guards...

We opened the elevators, more guards were unconscious. Stepping over them, we got in the elevator. There was only 1 other floor. The communications room. What they want with that, who knows. The person was standing in the center of the room when we arrived. There were more guards knocked out around them. They turned around to face us. They had been doing something at the upload terminal… They said nothing, only sprayed some sort of substance into the air, that formed into three crystal that began flying at us. I slashed through all three. Ruby was startled and trip over her heels.

Rocket: I told you those were a bad idea. Gah...!

A slight pain stung around my diaphragm, but I couldn't stop to check what happened. The entire time, I had to keep my eyes on the woman. Suddenly, the elevator dinged. I glanced at the elevator, surprised that someone else was out here this late. When I looked back, she had disappeared. Ironwood stepped out of the elevator. I suddenly fell onto my knees. One of the dust crystal shards had broken off and hit me in the stomach. Luckily, my aura repaired the surface of the injury relatively quickly.

Ironwood: Who was here?

Ruby: That is a long story...


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

POV: Omniscient

Ozpin, Ironwood, and Glynda were all meeting in Ozpin's office.

Ironwood: They were HERE! They were here Ozpin!

Glynda: Yes, we are very much aware.

Ironwood: Great. Your aware of it. So what are you going to do about it?

Ozpin: We stay the course. We keep up our defences.

Ironwood: HOW CAN YO-

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

The elevator dinged. Of course Ozpin's office is on the top floor. That make sense. What doesn't, is how Cardin can find enjoyment from jumping on an elevator, pressing every button, and then jumping off.

Ruby: Come on! We're late.

We both started running through the hallway. Ozpin's office has double doors from the hallway, into his office. Ruby was already through.

Ruby: ...about being late. Someone press all the buttons on the elevator. It wasn't me.

I walked inside.

Rocket: I cannot STAND people like Cardin.

The adults didn't respond.

Ironwood: How are you two feeling? After the night you had, I wouldn't be surprised if either of you were tired.

Ruby: We'll I'd feel a little better if my bad-guy catching record wasn't 0 for 2 now…

Ironwood: Two?

Rocket: Long story. Speaking of which, I believe that woman might be the same who stepped in with Torchwick. Both h

Ironwood: So, this might be related to Torchwick and the white fang?

Rocket: I think so.

Ironwood: Did she say anything?

Ruby: I don't think so…

Rocket: I heard her mutter one thing before she left. She muttered, "Back by 4:30". I thought that was weird since it was around 11:55 when she said it. So, she either went to a base four and a half hours away, or she could have been referring to a direction, via clock hands. I think they have a base in the South-East.

Ironwood: Well, that is a revelation indeed. You two are dismissed.

With a nod, Ruby and I left.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Ironwood: Now that I know where they are, we need to send as many troops as we can to the South-East sector of Vale-

Ozpin: General. When you go off to war, who do you send in first, the scouts or the flag bearers? This could be the first move in a long plot for which we do not know the final goal.

Ironwood: How… can you just SIT BY, and let this happen?!

Ozpin: Let's say we try it your way. You send in 10,000 troops into the south-east, not knowing where the base is, or how heavily it's guarded. If it isn't plainly out in the open, which I can almost assure you it isn't, you have just alerted them that we are onto them. Now let's say, instead, we sent in a couple of huntsmen, that make it seem like they have other reasons for being there. They find it, undetected, and the enemy isn't alerted that we've found them. While they think they are safe, we can mount a full-scale attack.

Ironwood: I need to think over this.

Ironwood walked out.

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POV: Rocket

Rocket: I might have embellished a bit too much…

Weiss: That was a risky move.

Ruby: Well, they had to know.

Blake: No, I think you guys handled it well.

Ruby: I'm not so sure...

Yang: Oh! I know what will cheer you up. I just got this package from dad!

Ruby squealed.

Ruby: Something from home!

She then proceeded to try and grab the package from Yang, who just held it above her head. Finally, after keeping Ruby away for a few seconds, Yang just turned the package upside down, which she had already opened. Out slid a black and white cylinder. We all leaned over for a closer look. Just then the cylinder popped into a dog.

Ruby: ZWEI!

I guess that's the name of the dog.

Blake: He sent a dog?

Weiss: In the MAIL?

Rocket: How is that even physically possible?

Blake, I noticed was already on the top bunk of the bed behind us. Ruby was cuddling Zwei.

Yang: Oh, he does stuff like this all the time.

Rocket: You mean casually breaking physics?

Weiss didn't seem too happy about this latest development.

Weiss: You mean to tell me. That this mangy... drooling… mutt, is going to be living with foweva? Yes he is, yes he is!

Her usual angry, hard attitude melted away within seconds.

Rocket: Did your dad decide to break physics by sending anything else?

Yang: Oh, yah!

She stuck her arm into the package, and rummaged around in the small, cylindrical, package. She pulled out a letter.

Yang: "Hey, girls! I'm going on a trip, and can't bring Zwei along. That's why I decided to send him to you. Enclosed should be all the food he will eat for the rest of the year".

Yang turned the package over again, and out came way too many cans of food to have stored in that tiny package. The pile landed on top of Zwei, completely burying him.

Blake: What's he supposed to do with that?

Yang shook the bag. A can opener fell out. The intercom beeped loudly.

Glynda: Will all students please report to the auditorium within 15 minutes for field trip sign-ups.

Yang: Well, that settles it. Zwei will be here when we get back!

I'm usually the last one out, but I walked out before Ruby since I felt like she was about to do something to bend the rules. She was just looking at Zwei, thinking.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The last one to arrive was Ruby. When she arrived, she had a backpack on that I don't remember her having before. Before I could ask her about it, Ozpin stepped up to the mic.

Ozpin: Atlas, Beacon, Shade, Haven. Today, we stand together, united. It has not always been so. 100 years ago, all were at war. Tyranny wanted to take away all forms of self expression and creativity. In protest of this, families began to name their children after the basis of all creativity; color. A tradition that continues to this day. Today, we stand united, but this peace takes effort to uphold. That is why you all must work outside of the school. Today, you will be selecting various field trips outside the school to help the community. All first years will only be shadowing a huntsman. Some of you will be taken out of the city for a day or two, while others will be working a couple hours a day for the rest of the year. For whatever endeavor you choose, good luck.

Screens popped up all around us. We found one that wasn't being used.

Ruby: Oh! We could find something in the southeast quadrant!

Rocket: Search and destroy. Sector 7. That sounds pretty good.

Yang: Yah, we can shadow the huntsman by day, and give 'em the slip at night.

Ruby tried entering the team name, but it was denied.

Ruby: How is that a second year only trip?

Blake: Any other ideas?

Ruby: We mail ourselves there!

Rocket; Uh, Ruby…

Ozpin: Well, that is one way, but I don't think we need to jump to something so drastic.

Ruby: Ehehe…

Ozpin: I'm afraid we thought the density of grimm in this area was too high for most 1st year teams.

Ruby: But-

Ozpin: While I am curious about how you really did find out about a "hideout in the southeast", or why rose petals were found under the highway a week ago…

Ruby: Well…

Ozpin: I doubt I'll ever get the exact answers I'm looking for. And I bet you 5 will somehow find your way on this mission, no matter what I say. So, instead of breaking the rules, why don't I just bend them?

He pressed a few buttons on his scroll, and the board reloaded. Suddenly, we were signed up for the mission.

Rocket: Thank you, sir.

Ruby: We won't let you down.

Ozpin: Just remember, even though teamwork and friendship have brought you this far, the enemies you will be facing won't care. Remember to stick with your huntsman at all times. Good luck.

With that, Ozpin walked away.

Yang: Well, that was encouraging.

Weiss: The road ahead will be difficult…

Blake: But we're ready for it.

Ruby: After all, we'll be fighting alongside a genuine huntsman!

I had already looked at mission info for the huntsman we would be shadowing. I would have said something, but I think it's funnier this way.

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I was right.

Oobleck: Whyhello,ladiesandgentleman!Who'sreadytofightfortheirlives?


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

POV: Rocket

Yes, Professor Oobleck was the huntsman we were going to be shadowing. We had all forgotten that most of the huntsman that would be chosen for the field trips would be teachers.

Weiss: Professor Oobleck?

Oobleck: Ihavetakenthelibertyofpreparingabullplaneforthisexcursion. Iwouldsuggestleavingyourbagshere,aswewillnotbeestablishingasinglebaseofoperations. Ihave alreadypackedtheessentialsmyself. Also,I wouldsuggesthurryingaswearealreadytwominutesbehindschedule.

With that, h-

Oobleck: Also, it's DOCTOR Oobleck! Ididn'tearnaPhDforfun,thankyouverymuch!

Ehem. With that, he ran over to the bullplane within milliseconds, and began loading up.

Ruby: Well, gang, it looks like we'll be saving the world with Doctor Oobl-ok that sounded a lot better in my head…

Nora: Saving the world? Without us?! I'm insulted! Hurt! Maybe a little hungry? That last one isn't your fault though…

She glared angrily at Ren, God help him.

Ruby: Oh! What are you four doing?

Jaune: We're shadowing a sheriff of a nearby village. We leave tomorrow. So, who are you gu-

Oobleck: Four minutes, ladies! (and Rocket)

Team JNPR suddenly felt our pain.

Ruby: Welp, wish us luck!

And with that, we were off. We loaded up onto the plane and took off.

Weiss: Um, Doctor Oobleck? What does history have to do with extermination?

Oobleck: Whatapreposterousquestionyousillylittlegirl!Historyisthebackboneofourverysociety!Andprobablytheliver. Alsothekidneys,ifIweretowager... Yousee, 'sgreatestfailures.

Yang: Oh! I remember now. Wasn't it supposed to be an expansion of Vale?

Oobleck: Yes, but then, well, without the natural barriers Vale has, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start.

Weiss: Yes, but what does that have to do with our current mission?

Oobleck: Well,contrarytopopularbelief, Ihaveseenmyfairshareoftousles.

Ruby: Like the sprout?

Blake: Those are brussels.

Ruby: Like the mushroom?

Yang: Those are truffles.

Oobleck: Andbecauseofmyparticularobservationalanddetectiveskills, theysawitfittoassignmetothisparticularassignment.

Rocket: Extermination?

Oobleck: Yousee,afterMountainGlennwasblockedoff, itbecamecompletelyabandoned. Recently,however,criminalactivityhasgoneupinVale. SinceMountainGlennisabandoned...

Rocket: That leaves the perfect place for a hideout.

Oobleck: Precisely.

Suddenly, the bullplane stopped moving forward and began to hover.

Oobleck: Well,team,itlookslikethisisourstop.

Then, Oobleck just stepped backward, and out into the open air. We all peered out the door. He didn't have a parachute. I studied the area beneath us and found a path

Rocket: Well, going down.

I jumped out. Everyone was right behind me. I was falling at approximately 19.4m/s, and was around 30 feet from the ground. I used my scythe to hook over a light post, and changed my vertical momentum into horizontal momentum. Ruby used the sniper rifle's recoil to slow her decent. Weiss used her glyphs as platforms to slow herself down. Blake used her ribbon as a grappling hook, and swung off of the same light post I used. Yang just rolled when she hit the ground. She still landed with enough force to break the concrete. Even though we all used slightly different landing strategies, we all landed at almost the same time. We all landed with our weapons out and ready.

Oobleck: Goodjob,ladiesandgentleman. Justremember,fromnowon, youmustobeyeverycommandIgive. Understood?

We all nodde-

Oobleck: Ruby! Didn't I tell you to leave your bags at the plane pad?

Ruby, for some reason, still had her bag on. I had completely forgotten to ask her what was in it.

Ruby: Um, but you hadn't told us to start listening to you. So I didn't.

Oobleck: She's not wrong… Very well! Leave your bag here, and we can pick it up before extraction.

Ruby; Bu-

Oobleck: Ruby! What could possibly be so important that you ca-

Zwei's head poked out of the bag.

Zwei: Bark!

Ruby: Get back in the bag…

Oobleck: We are out here, in dangerous territory, surrounded by grimm, and you brought a dog… GENIUS!

He picked up Zwei.

Oobleck: Caninesarewellknownfortheirsuperiorsenseofsmell,andexcellenthunting ability. Thismakesthemanecessityforanyhuntingparty.

Blake: So, what's your orders Doctor?

Oobleck: Straight to the point! I like it. WewillbetrackingGrimmandoncewe've foundonewewillfollowittoit'spack.

Weiss: What?

Oobleck: Grimm. Creature of Grimm less than 100 feet away.

We all looked around.

Rocket: West.

They all finally saw it and prepared to fight.

Oobleck: Wait! Grimm are attracted to negative emotions. Things like anger, fear, hatred. All things displayed by our current group. If we continue like this, all Grimm in the area will surely notice us. But, if we do not engage, it will almost surely lead us to it's pack, which, in turn, will lead us to our prey.

Blake: How long will we be tracking it?

Oobleck: Grimm stay isolated from their packs for days, weeks, maybe even months. Why, some isolated grimm have been known to stay away from the whole pack- and there's the whole pack.

When we looked back over, there were around 30 grimm where there used to be just one.

Weiss: What?!

Oobleck: And now they've seen us.

Weiss: WHAT?!

Oobleck: AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!

Blake: What are your orders, Doctor?

He looked us all in the eye.

Oobleck: Show me what you're capable of.


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

POV: Rocket

Every person on the team fought mostly individually today. Yang engaged one of them, and started beating it up. Weiss was already getting chased by 9 beowolves, and was barely staying ahead. 3 of them, however, saw Blake and switched their attention off of Weiss. Blake didn't even look back, and partially drew her sword. When the first beowulf arrived and slashed at her. The shadow clone disappeared. Blake then came down on top of the monster, slashing it in half. Then, she shot at the next, one. She noticed it was doing almost nothing, so he threw the cleaver at it. That did the trick, and the next one fell, then, she threw her katana, but held onto the ribbon. As soon as the katana killed one beowolf. She use the ribbon, and used the katana, like a flail, swinging it behind her, stabbing another through the head. Weiss, meanwhile killed the 6 behind her with a complex combination of formes. Ruby was by far the one getting swarmed by the most. She had her sniper rifle almost constantly firing. Because of the noise, she didn't hear the beowulf coming up behind her. She saw a shadow, but didn't have time to react. Then, I had slashed through the beowulf, cutting it cleanly in two.

Rocket: Keep, firing, I got this side!

She kept firing, getting all headshots. She took down around 10, I took down around 9. While we were clean them all up, Yang had been busy beating the crap out of 1 of them. When she looked up, she was ready to fight some more.

Yang: Ok! Who's...

She realized we had killed the rest of them without her.

Yang: next...

Oobleck: Don't worry, Yang. I'm sure there will be plenty more chances to beat up grimm. After all, I'm certain this will just be the first bout of many.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

He was definitely right about this being the first bout of many. We were fighting for a solid part of the day. Around halfway through, we were already exhausted. Oobleck decided to try to take our mind off of the fatigue. First, he singled out Yang.

Oobleck: Yang. Why did you decide become a huntress?

Yang: Well, to fight monsters and go on crazy adventur-

Oobleck: No, that is what you do. I want to know why you do it.

Yang: The honest reason? I'm a thrill seeker. I love getting tied up in all these crazy adventures! Plus, I get to help people along the way. It's a win-win, you know.

Oobleck: Hmm…

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Oobleck: And you, Ms. Schnee! Surely you didn't need the extra money. Why have the risk of being a huntress over some cushy job in Atlas?

Weiss: As you said. I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. When I figured out I could fight, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life.

Oobleck: Ok…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Oobleck: And what about you, Ms. Belladonna? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose. What is said purpose?

Blake: There's too much trouble in this world to standby and let it happen. I have to at least try to stop it.

Oobleck: Ok, but how?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Oobleck: And finally, why did you do this, Rocket?

Rocket: I've felt emotional pain in my past that I don't want anyone else to go. This is the best way to defend who can't defend themselves.

Oobleck: Yes, yes…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ruby was playing with Zwei during a break, when she turned around and saw Oobleck. She quickly put the turkey away.

Ruby: Sorry! Are we ready to move on?

Oobleck: No, I think we've done enough for today. Go ahead and gather the team up.

Ruby went around gathering the rest of the team, and we met back up in front of one of the abandoned houses.

Oobleck: This seems like it can work as a home away from home. Your leader and I will secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Ruby and Oobleck left the rest of the group and walked around a corner, Oobleck walked up to the edge of a cliff. When Ruby caught up, she saw a very unusual sight. There was a line of goliath grimm, walking across the horizon.

Ruby: Woah! What are those?

Oobleck: That, my dear girl, is a grimm.

Ruby: It looks awesome!

She unsheathed Crescent Rose.

Ruby: Let's kill it.

Oobleck: I'm afraid your rifle would do little more than anger a grimm of that size.

Ruby: But couldn't it attack us?

Oobleck: Not all grimm are mindless, or, more accurately, they aren't still mindless. After living for such a long time, these grimm have realized that, in even killing one human, they could lose many of their numbers, and that killing one human will just bring more.

Ruby: So, what is it still doing here?

Oobleck: Well, it is still attracted to negativity, and Mountain Glenn pretty well embodies negative emotion.

The silence between them stretched out as they watched those gentle giants in the distance.

Ruby: Doctor Oobleck?

Oobleck: Yes, Ruby?

Ruby: Why did you become a huntsman?

Oobleck: Look around you. What do you see?

Ruby: Um… Broken buildings… Empty streets…

Oobleck: I see lives that could have been saved. And even though I could do that easily with traditional weapons, I believe I can make a much greater difference with my mind. As a teacher, I get to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity. An opportunity to learn from the mistakes made in this place. I am a huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing I would rather be. Well,weshouldprobablygetbacktotherestofthegroup.

Ruby: Yep!

And with that, they walked back to the camp.


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

POV: Rocket

Ruby and Oobleck walked into our cozy little crevice. We had started a fire, with open windows giving plenty of ventilation for the smoke.

Ruby: Ooh! Fire!

Then she was on her knees in front of the fire, heating up her hands.

Ruby: So… Warm…

Oobleck inspected our arrangements. I had already set up my stuff in a seperate room to give the girls some privacy, and Oobleck immediately set his gear in an area between the two walls were it was cracked. Because of that, he was above everyone.

Yang: Hey, did Doctor Oobleck ask you why you wanted to become a huntsman? What did you say?

Ruby: No, he didn't... weird…

Oobleck: We'll need someone to take first watch.

Ruby: Done!

Oobleck: Everyone else, get ready for bed. Lights out in 30 minutes.

Ruby left for the watch-spot outside. Soon, everyone was laying around the fire, except for me, I was in the other room, but I could still hear them.

Yang: Hey, Blake, are you still up?

Blake: Yah

Yang: I've never really given a thought to why I want to be a huntress. I've kind of just always gone with the flow, you know? I wanted to go on crazy adventures and exciting battles, and being a huntress just kind of lined up with that.

Blake: I know what you mean. I want to fix all the wrongs in the world, but how will I… What will I…

Yang: I'm confident you can figure it out. After all, you're not one to back away from a fight.

Blake: Except I am! When you guys discovered I was a faunus, I ran! When I discovered one of my oldest friends had become a monster, I ran! Even my semblance… I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow, an empty clone of myself to take the hit while I run away.

Yang: How about you, Weiss. Are you up?

Weiss: Of course I am, you guys are talking...

I could hear the eye-roll from Yang.

Weiss: And, well, it's not what I meant.

Yang: Huh?

Weiss: What I said about upholding the honor. It's not what I meant. I'm not dumb, I know what my father is doing with the company. When I take over the company, I want to people to see the honor, rather than the mud my father is throwing all over it.

Yang: Yah, we aren't at all like Ruby, are we? She's always wanted to be huntress, even before she knew she could fight. Not because she wants to have fun, or any other alterior motivation, but because it's the right thing to do.

Weiss: Well, that is what it should be, isn't it? At its core, it's a job to protect the people, and whatever we want will have to come second.

I could see Oobleck from where I was laying, and he had apparently been listening, as he began to smile as Weiss finished talking.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Ruby's shift was over and Yang's had begun. Ruby was almost asleep when Zwei got up. Without even barking, he started walking off.

Ruby: Zwei, what are you doing?

Zwei kept walking outside.

Ruby: Zwei, get back here.

She followed him out, to find him peeing behind a tree.

Ruby: Zwei, this is a wasteland. You could have done that anywhere.

Then she began to hear voices from around the corner. She grabbed Zwei and hid behind a bit of rubble. Two white fang members walked out from behind the corner.

Guard 1: I thought I heard a beowulf over here…

Guard 2: It doesn't matter, let's just finish our patrol and go home.

They walked out of sight down a different street. Ruby came out from behind cover.

Ruby: Yes! This is exactly what we were looking for.

Ruby started to trail the guards that had passed by. She was so busy tracking the guards, she failed to notice a shadow silently trailing her.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ruby had almost caught up to the guards she was silent as she moved from cover to cover, bush to tree, tree to light post. The guards went around a corner, leaving Ruby an opportunity to get a bit closer, without having to use cover. Instead of peering around the corner herself, though, she picked up Zwei and let him peer around the corner.

Ruby: Bark once they go inside.

She heard a clunk in the distance, and then Zwei barked.

Ruby: We can't do this alone. Oh! I'll call the others!

She pulled out her scroll and tried to call the rest of her team. She couldn't get a signal.

Ruby: Dangit! We have to go ba-

She heard a twig break behind her. She started to turn around, when she felt the ground beneath her shake, before dropping away! She caught herself on the edge of the hole. She knew she couldn't pull herself up with Zwei and Crescent Rose being held. She threw them up first and, tried to pull herself up.

?: Ruby!

Just then, the rest of the ground she was holding onto dropped away, leaving her to fall into the dark abyss beneath her.


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

POV: Omniscient

Ironwood was standing just outside of Beacon, watching the city of Vale. It was around 11:00 PM.

Glynda: So what are you doing out here?

Ironwood turned around and saw Glynda walking up behind him.

Ironwood: I couldn't sleep, arm was acting up.

Glynda: Yes, so obviously you got out of bed, got completely dressed, and decided to gaze menacingly out into the city.

The silence stretched out.

Glynda: ...What's wrong, James?

Ironwood: I've trusted him for years. We both have. I just… can't help but feel… like he's keeping us in the dark.

Glynda: You and I both know we aren't the ones in the dark.

Ironwood: That almost makes it worse! I just, refuse to believe that a man I've known for so long would act so… passively.

Glynda: You're a good person James. You've always done what you thought was right. But right now, it's time for you to stop thinking, and start believing. You keep talking about trust, and it's high time you start actually trusting. Ozpin has experience that the rest of us lack. And I think that is something worth remembering.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

I picked up Crescent Rose and ran back to the rest of the group as fast as I could. I had followed Ruby out, seeing as she seems to always get herself in trouble. This was one of those times. As I arrived, I heard them noticing Ruby was gone.

Yang: Hey guys, where's Ruby?

I burst through the door, startling everyone inside. They immediately noticed how I was holding the Crescent Rose

Rocket: She's in trouble. Come on!

Everyone followed me out, and to the hole in the ground. When we got there, No one knew what to think, except for Oobleck apparently…

Oobleck: Of course… yes, of course OF COURSE!

Blake: What's wrong?

Oobleck: How could I be so stupid!?

Yang: Doctor Oobleck, what's wrong?

Oobleck: MountainGlenn!Yes!Anexpansionofvalethatwasinevitablydestroyedbycreaturesofgrimm!Previouslyhometothousandsofpeople!Workingpeople,commutingtothecity, .Grimmattacksincrease!Thepopulation,nowindanger, metrotunnelsand WHAT DO THEY FIND? The south-east quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!

Yang: What are you saying, doc?

Oobleck: We aren't just looking for an underground crime network, we're looking for an UNDERGROUND crime network!

Weiss: They've been working in caves?

Oobleck: No, no, no. Mountain Glenn was an expansion of Vale. An expansion that would be home to thousands of people. Working people that would have to commute back to the inner city. To reach the city from Mountain Glenn, the citizens devised a subway transport from Mountain Glenn to Vale. It was never finished. Without the many nature barriers Vale has, Mountain Glenn was soon attacked by Grimm. They soon found it so bad, that they were forced to give up the city, letting it be destroyed by Grimm. In a last-ditch effort for survival, the citizens went underground, into the tunnels they had built for the subway.

Yang: Like an underground village?

Oobleck: In a manner of speaking, yes. A safe haven if you will. Inevitably, someone made a mistake. A mistake that caused an explosion, which in turn, opened a cave filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the city officially sealed off the tunnels, creating the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there, we must find her.

He finally took out his weapon, it just wasn't the weapon we were expecting. His thermos expanded out, forming a sort of bat.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Ruby had fallen onto what felt like another building, but that was impossible. She was underground! She snapped back to reality when she heard some guards coming.

Guard 1: I think it came from someone over here…

Guard 2: Hey, you! Hold it right there!

They had noticed her easily. They were both in White Fang uniforms. There were only two of them. She tried to draw her Crescent Rose but remembered that she had thrown it onto the road along with Zwei. Immediately they had surrounded her. One of them grabbed her arms.

Guard 1: Think we should bring her to the boss?

Guard 2: He might want to know…

Ruby: Get your hands off of me-

One of the guards hit her in the face with the butt of his rifle, and she was knocked unconscious.


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

POV: Omniscient

Ruby woke up, and was looking directly at the ground.

Ruby: Wha-

Guard 1: She's awake!

The guard carrying her set her down, and let her walk. They walked completely through the camp they were in, and eventually stopped in front of a train car.

Guard 1: Hey, boss! We found something that you might want to see!

?: Is it good or bad, Perry, because let me tell you, I have had a day…

Perry (Guard 1): It's, uh… It's a little girl.

Roman leaned out of the train car.

Roman: That would be bad…

Roman jumped out of car, and stepped on his cigar.

Roman: Whatcha' doin here Red?

Ruby: Grr…

Ruby basically teleported, because she sped a couple feet away. She started regularly running away, out of energy to dash. Roman immediately just lifted his cane, except this time he flipped it. Instead of firing off a flare as per usual, he fired a hook, and caught Ruby on the hood.

Roman: Let me make this clear Red, you are not ge-

 _Boom_

Roman: Can you go see what that is?

Perry took two steps, befo-

 _Boom_

Roman: What is GOING ON here?!

 _Boom_

Ruby looked over in the distance, and saw yellow, green, white, and 2 black dots getting closer. She decided to be a distraction. She jumped onto Roman's head, and when he threw her off, she ran again.

Roman: Can somebody KILL HER?

Everyone started shooting at Ruby. She dodged and weaved in order to not get hit. Then, three guard stepped in front of her in a line and raised their guns, Ruby couldn't stop fast enough.

POV: Rocket

And then time stopped around me. I saw three guards in front of Ruby and knew I had to stop them. I walked forward, with time moving at 1/10000 the rate that it normally would be. I had simply just stepped out of the time frame. I walked casually over to Ruby and stepped in front her, cutting through bullets as I went. Time resumed, and I was out of energy for a while. Just slowing my perception of time already takes effort. Actually moving outside of the flow of time take exponentially more. The guards were startled and stopped firing for a second. That was their mistake. After a quick second, they started to raise their guns again, and that was when Yang's missile hit. All three guards were sent flying over our heads.

Yang: Ruby!

The sisters hugged. After they were done, I handed Ruby her scythe.

Ruby: Ok, these guys are doing something big down here. It seems like their building a train, and loading it with all sorts of supplies.

Oobleck: That's crazy. These rails lead to dead end.

The intercomm beeped on.

Intercomm: Everyone load up, we are leaving now.

Yang: Well, they're going somewhere.

Blake: So what are we going to do?

Ruby: We're stopping that train.

And so, we started running. As we got close to the back end of the train, it was already moving our top running speed. It was now or never. We all jumped, and somehow made it. Ruby tried to call Jaune for reinforcements, but couldn't get a signal. The rest of the team walked forward a bit and found a removable panel in the middle of the car. When they opened it, they all got quite a shock.

Weiss: Um, Doctor Oobleck? What's that?

She pointed at the strange item that had been under the panel.

Oobleck: That, my dear girl, appears to be a bomb.

I had almost fully recovered when Oobleck made that statement. I was still kind of tired, but I had enough energy to continue running. I walked over to them. They were trying to diffuse the bomb when it started to beep.

Oobleck: Time to go!

We started running to the edge of the car, when Oobleck stopped Blake for a second.

Oobleck: Blake! Detach the caboose! It will kill us all!

Blake jumped down in between the cars, and, once everyone made it over, she raised her sword to cut apart the coupling. She was about to swing downwards, when it split apart before she even did anything.

Blake: It decoupled itself!

Yang: I guess they really don't want us on this train.

Rocket: Um... Bad news…

I had found a similar compartment on the car we were on, and it also had a bomb.

Oobleck: No, no, no…

He ran over to the next car, and opened yet another compartment.

Oobleck: They ALL have bombs!

Then the one I had revealed started beeping, and the train decoupled itself. We all jumped over, with me going last, and barely making it on.

Oobleck: We have to keep moving towards the engin-

He was looking backwards, when he noticed what the cars did behind us.

Oobleck: Oh, dear…

The cars were exploding, and breaking through the ceiling. This left a perfect route for a bunch of grimm to follow the train.

Blake: Their leading grimm to the main city!

Ruby: We've got baddies!

There were a bunch of white fang members getting out of the cars in front of us. They began to advance. Yang was the first into battle, as per usual. She quickly dashed forward, punching one of their faces into the train car we were standing on. Then Blake joined in, using her shadow clones to completely misdirect them. Then Weiss attacked. In one move, she launched herself, through the crowd, leaving behind an expanding trail of ice. This froze a few of them to the spot, while it also pushed a few of them off the train. Then Ruby attacked, dashing forward and slicing through a bunch of them. Finally, I joined the fray. When 1 of them shot at me, I sliced the bullet into 10 different pieces, and hit them with the shaft of my scythe, launching them back out, and all of them hit a target.

Oobleck: You 5 go under, and try to stop the train.

Weiss: What will you do?

Oobleck: I need to teach them a lesson.

Rocket: And we all know how painful those are...

And with that, Oobleck ran at a Paladin that was incoming. Zwei looked at Ruby.

Ruby: Go.

Zwei barked happily, and then followed Oobleck.

Rocket: Is Zwei trained for…

I looked over, and Oobleck had launched Zwei in a ball of fire at the Paladin, completely destroying it.

Rocket: Battle…

Ruby: Come on, team! We have a train to stop.

And with that, we went below deck, to make our way forward from there. As we went down, though, Weiss stopped us.

Weiss: Oh, right! Here, Blake.

Weiss handed Blake a clip for the Gambol Shroud.

Weiss: These are dust bullets. If you fire your gun while using your semblance, it should power it up.

Blake: Thanks. Now, let's go!

We opened the door, hoping for an empty, instead, we found Neo.

Yang: You guys go up ahead. I got this one.

Yang was almost undefeated in a 1v1 scenario. This would not go well for Neo. When we opened the next door, we ran through, and immediately was faced with a huge man with a chainsaw. Weiss ran slightly ahead of us and engaged him.

Weiss: Go! I got this.

So now, it was just me, Blake, and Ruby. We entered the next car, and Roman was just standing there, spinning his cane.

Roman: Hello, kitty cat. You miss me?

Blake: I got him. You two go ahead.

Roman started running towards us, and Blake engaged him. Finally, we had reached the train car. There was no one else inside.

Rocket: Ok, now we just have to figure out how to stop the train…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Back in the first car with Yang and Neo, things were not going well for Yang. Even though Neo was only armed with her umbrella, she still managed to dodge every one of Yang's attacks. This, of course, just made Yang more and more mad. Finally, during one flurry of punches that Neo ducked, she stepped back and kicked somehow over Yang's fist, and hit her in the face. Yang was on the floor, which, as it turns out, is not a great place to be. She rolled out of the way as Neo jumped and kicked atthe floor, denting it where her head had been seconds earlier. Yang rolled up all the way and went for yet another punch. Neo stepped to the side, and grabbed Yang's arm with both hands. Then, with way more strength than could ever be expected from Neo's tiny stature, she threw Yang across the car. Yang's head slammed into the metal wall of the train car. She was pretty much out. Neo took this chance to unsheath the true weapon of her umbrella; a small spike that juts out of the tip. It scraped along the floor as she walked over the unconscious Yang.

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Meanwhile, Weiss had the hulking White Fang Lieutenant at her mercy. With perfect form, she was absolutely destroying him. He got of from the most recent beatdown, and revved the engine of his chainsaw.

Lieutenant: Hm... Finally. I'll get to kill a Schnee.

Weiss: I'm more than just a name.

The Lieutenant charged. Weiss spun her sword in front of her like a wand, as a glyph appeared in front of her. The chainsaw drilled into the glyph, but couldn't break it. Then, with a shout, she pushed it forward, giving her some room to breathe. Once again, the Lieutenant tried to swing his chainsaw overhand at Weiss. This time, she held up her sword, angling it to deflect the impact into the floor. As the chainsaw slipped off her blade, she spun and jabbed knocking the Lieutenant back again. He stepped forward, throwing his body weight into a one-handed side-swing with the chainsaw. Weiss effortlessly rolled under it with perfect form, swinging her sword at the man's feet to knock him down. This time, he spun up, his chainsaw spinning a full circle around him. Weiss jumped, and then fully blocked it with her sword. Then, the Lieutenant tried a flat-footed kick at Weiss. She easily jumped over it and clung to the ceiling for a fraction of a second with her glyphs before launching herself back down sword first. She rolled back to her feet as the Lieutenant stumbled back out of the way. Immediately, she focused her energy into a golden glyph right beneath her. Time dilation. Now moving faster than the eye could track, tons of glyphs burst into existence all around the train car. She jumped to one, then, with blinding speed, she dashed between them, slashing as she went. Finally, she finished off with a jab straight at him. But, with speed he hadn't shown throughout the rest of the fight, the Lieutenant spun his chainsaw in front of him, pushing her jab to the side. As she went slightly off balance, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the ceiling. As she fell back down, he swung his chainsaw full force directly at her.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Back with Blake, Roman had yet to stop talking.

Roman: You know, we really outta stop meeting like this. People are gonna talk.

Blake said nothing. Instead, she just popped out her previous clip and inserted the new one Weiss had given her. Roman smirked and charged at her. Just before he would have made contact, Blake pulled the trigger on the Gambol Shroud and used her semblance. She rolled underneath his wild swing, leaving behind a flaming version of herself. It took Roman a second to comprehend what just happened. Unfortunately, that was longer than the fuse on the clone. It exploded, launching him over Blake's head. She jumped up and spiked him back to the ground easily. As she landed, Roman fired his cane. Reacting instantly, she pulled the trigger and used her semblance again, dodging up. The flare Roman fired exploded against the stone copy of Blake she had left behind. She used the explosion to propel herself even faster upward and landed back down at Roman. Right before she would have landed on him, though, she created a copy and pushed back off it. So, instead of landing on Roman, she backflipped away from him. Then, as he went for another overhand strike at the still crouched Blake, she pulled the trigger again and created a clone made of ice, freezing his cane and hand in place. Then, with all of her energy, she released a burst of wind, crackling with electricity. The wave split the air and cracked the metal hull of the train car. It hit Roman easily and launched him into the door behind him. He landed back to the floor face up. As he tried to sit up, he was quickly pushed back down by Blake's foot, as she raised her sword to his throat.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Meanwhile, Neo stepped over Yang and pulled her umbrella up for the fatal stroke. Then, just as she was about to plunge it down through Yang's heart, she heard a strange ripping sound from beside her. She saw a blur of red in her peripherals. before she could turn to look, though, she was knocked back by a huge impact straight to her umbrella. As she looked up, a figure dressed in all red and black stood over Yang. The stranger resheathed their sword. Neo could feel the danger from this interloper. Then, in a movement to fast for the eye to track, the stranger swung her sword straight from the sheathe, launching a wave of fire. The projectile hit Neo and the illusion shattered. She had escaped. The stranger resheathed their sword. They looked down at the unconscious girl on the floor. At that moment, Yang began to stir. The stranger quickly summoned a portal and walked through just as Yang opened her eyes. She caught a bare glimpse of the stranger who had saved her life just as the portal disappeared.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Roman: So... What will we do now. Do you really think a little bow on top is going to make people forget who you are? What you've done?

Just then, there was a bang as the door between cars exploded off. Weiss fell through, barely conscious. The lieutenant was barely behind her.

Roman: Heh... So, what's it gonna b-

Blake kicked him in the side of the head and resheathed her sword. She quickly ran over to Weiss. And then, the two of them went bac on top of the train.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We looked around for a while before Ruby found something.

Ruby: Are these the brakes?

There was a lever, that had been hidden to the side. It looked like a brake lever.

Rocket: I'll do this, you meet up with the rest of the group, and try to keep the enemies out of here.

Ruby nodded and went topside. I pulled the lever. Sadly, the brakes weren't that great, and the train didn't stop very quickly. I saw the end of the tunnel coming up. I just pulled harder.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

While Rocket was pulling on the brakes, Ruby and the rest of the team met up on top of the train and also saw the wall coming up.

Ruby: Weiss?

Weiss nodded and immediately pointed her sword into the ground. Suddenly, ice sprung up around them. The ice shield kept growing and was still growing when the train hit the wall.


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

POV: Omniscient

Jaune was laying in his bed, asleep, when his phone began buzzing.

Jaune: Gah!

He picked up the phone, and saw that it was Ruby who was calling.

Jaune: Hello?

There was just a bunch of static, before the call cut off.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

When they woke up, team RWBY was laying on the ground in the town square of Vale. A couple train cars were scattered around, all crushed and crumpled from the impact. Ruby looked up. Pedestrians were walking up to the group, curious on why they had been blasted through a wall, and how they survived. Sirens were blaring, but that's what tends to happen when you suddenly crash through a wall. They heard one last beep behind them, before one last train car blew up, opening a hole for the grimm. Team RWBY went into the center of the square, because that was a raised platform. They were completely surrounded. Then, team RWBY went on the attack. Weiss started by summoning ice that impaled all the grimm around her. Weiss moved out of the way, while Yang jumped up, and fired a single shot into the middle, shooting shards everywhere. While they were doing that, Ruby was destroying all the grimm near her, and was almost a blur as she moved from one opponent to the next. Blake, meanwhile, was calmly using her pistol to take out grimm. Slowly, they were pushed back into the middle, with no ground made whatsoever. Suddenly, they heard an explosion in the distance.

?: NORA SMASH!

Nora suddenly came down and destroyed a Deathstalker with one hit. Jaune, Pyrrah, and Ren then jumped down from a bullplane that flew overhead.

Pyrrha: Let's go!

Pyrrha and Ren quickly ran into battle, leaving Jaune in their dust.

Jaune: *Sigh* Ok, who's first?

Suddenly, there was a giant thud behind him. He turned around and saw a giant Alpha Ursa.

Jaune: O- Ok… You're first…

Jaune was slowly walking backwards. Then, he heard Pyrrah's voice in his head. _Never stop moving forward._ He stopped walking backwards. The ursa got ready to attack. Pyrrah noticed Jaune, and almost helped him, but instead, decided to watch. The ursa attacked first, with a horizontal swipe. He blocked it with his shield, and the attack left the ursa open in the side. Jaune quickly took that opportunity to unload 4 slashes into the ursa's side. Jaune's arm was too tired to swing again, so he took a step back. The ursa didn't even look effected. Jaune prepared for the ursa to attack, but it didn't. Instead, it just fell backwards, dead.

Finally, more reinforcements arrived. The Atlas military moved with team CFVY and held off the grimm. After the grimm were bottled up, everyone was talking in the middle of the square.

Ruby: Are all of us still ok?

Yang: Just a bit tired.

Blake: Wait, where's Rocket?

Ruby: He was… in the engine car…

There was a bit of silence. They had completely forgotten about him.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

I woke up in a dark place. Slowly, my mind came back to me and I remembered what had happened. I hadn't been able to stop the train. Yes, I had slowed it down, minimizing damage, but the train had still hit the wall. The last thing I remember is a bright light, and then nothing. Miraculously, I wasn't bleeding. I checked my scroll, to find that my aura had fully recharged while I had been "sleeping". My head felt like it was on fire, though. I noticed a small panel loose on what used to be the roof.

POV: Omniscient

There was a loud crash, and they looked as a panel was thrown off a car nearby. Rocket crawled out of the gap. He was covered in ash, and his clothes were torn.

POV: Rocket

I found myself in the middle of a square with the entirety of team RWBY sitting in the middle. For some reason, they all rushed over to me as soon as I got myself out of the train.

Ruby: Are you ok?

Yang: How did you survive?

Weiss: Did you just wake up?

Rocket: Too many questions! I personally have no idea how I survived, I'm sore all over, and yes I did just regain consciousness. It was weird though. While I was unconscious, my aura fully regenerated.

Blake: Well, at least we're all safe. So, what do we do now?

Weiss: I would say we should train for the tournament, but I think we have that covered at this point.

Rocket: Who's ready for bed?

Yang: I could sleep forever.

Ruby: Same.

And with that, we left for our dorm, ready for our next adventure.


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

POV: Rocket

The Vytal tournament is a huge event. It consists of multiple teams from each school, all battling in a tournament that is shown around the world. The rules are slightly different than a normal tournament to liven things up. In every round, the teams left are randomized to decide the next fighters. But that isn't the weird part. The special part comes in with the numbers of fighters. There is 1 qualifier round, where all 4 team members fight. In the next round, only 2 members fight. Then, it moves to normal bracket style, where only 1 member of the surviving teams can fight, with only 1 champion as the outcome. The arena is randomized with what the terrain is, until the 1v1 rounds, where they only have a basic, gray tiled floor. Because of the "special circumstances" around team RRWBY, we decided that they would fight as team RWBY, and I would be alone. If you think about it, that means things will only get easier as I move on, since the number of opponents I'll be facing will decrease with every round.

This first round that I was watching, was team RWBY, vs team ABRN. Team ABRN was composed of one person on a hoverboard, one person who had a string as a weapon, one person who used a massive sword, and another who used a simple bo staff. They made the mistake of doing things in the ice realm, where Weiss reigns supreme. 2 of their members were picked up in a fist made of ice. That fist then was rolled into a third member, who could barely stop it. As a finisher, those 3 remaining members (Their leader had been tricked by Blake and knocked out) were punch off the stage by Yang, after she skated into them, going pretty dang fast after a little help from Weiss and Blake.

After their match, we were walking through the fairgrounds, when Ruby's stomach growled.

Ruby: Is anyone else hungry?

Yang: Oh, yeah!

Blake: I may have worked up a bit of an appetite…

And that was when a deep rumble shook the ground.

Weiss: If only there was a place where we could get some food? Oh, wait.

There were quite a few booths in the fairgrounds to get some food.

Ruby: It's okay, Wiess. I forget the fairground exist too, sometimes.

Weiss: I was being facetious!

Ruby: Well, if you were hungry, why didn't you just say so?!

Rocket: How did you eve-

Yang: Come on, guys! I know just the place!

Yang led the group to the "Simple Wok" noodle stand. We sat down, and the shopkeeper walked out and asked for our order.

Yang: I'll just have the regular.

Immediately, a giant bowl of noodles flew from somewhere near the kitchen doors. It happened even too fast for my time manipulation to see.

Ruby: Oo, that looks good… I'll take the same!

A similar bowl of noodles crashed to a halt in front of her.

Weiss: Do you have anything low in sodium?

She had barely finished her sentence before she received a bowl just like everyone else. I was about to order when I realized something.

Rocket: I… don't have any money…

Weiss: Don't worry, I'll pay for the entire team.

Rocket: Oh, thank you.

I looked at the pattern and gave up figuring out how to get a different result.

Rocket: I think I know what you're going to give me anyway-

A bowl was thrown to me, almost over the edge of the counter, full of noodles. Blake was last. She simply nodded, and he went into the back for a second. When he came out, he put a bowl of fish in front of her. She was already drooling. Weiss handed the man her card.

Ruby: So, Weiss, what's the occasion?

Weiss: It's ju-

The card came back like shuriken and stuck into the table next to Weiss. She looked up and saw the man just pointing to the cash register. The card had been declined.

Weiss: But I've barely dipped into my monthly allowance…

The man quickly took back all of the food. Like, seriously. He was moving at Mach 3 comfortably. Blake groaned and put her head on the table.

Pyrrha: Maybe I can help.

Team JNPR snuck up on us without me noticing again, probably due to Blake's groaning.

Ruby: Oh, Pyrrha! You don't have t-

Blake: But she can!

We all got our food back and began talking while eating.

Ruby: So, aren't you all fighting next? What are you doing here?

Pyrrha: We decided we needed a little pre-battle snack.

When we finally pushed our empty bowls away from us, Jaune and Ren looked almost ready to puke. Pyrrha looked only slightly uncomfortable, and Nora somehow looked hungrier.

Ren: Are you sure it's wise to eat so much before a fight?

Pyrrha: It will give us energy!

Jaune: If I puke, I'm blaming you.

Nora: Oh! We can all aim it at the enemy!

Ren: Nora, that's disgusting! But, I guess if you feel the urge…

Jaune: Got it...

Ruby: So, do you think you all are ready?

Nora: Well, I can bench 5 of me, Ren is basically ninja, Pyrrha is untouchable, and… Jaune! We've trained all year, our weapons are awesome and… Jaune!

Rocket: Are you just going to take that?

Jaune: She's not wrong…

Nora: Oh come on! Lighten up! The worst that could happen is we lose, then we have to walk around school for 3 more years with everyone knowing we're failures, our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status, we won't be able to show our faces in class, no one will sit next to us in the cafeteria, Ren and I have no parents, so no home to return to, and we'll officially be renamed team LOSE-iper-

Ren: So, yeah. We're feeling pretty good.

Rocket: Nice pep talk.

Suddenly the intercom turned on.

Oobleck: Can JNPR please report to the arena, like they were supposed to do 10 MINUTES AGO? Thank you.

Pyrrha: Well, we should probably go.

The entire team was almost too full, with Jaune looking a bit sick. This was going to be an interesting match. It was JNPR vs. BRNZ. We went to watch. When we arrived, both teams were already in the arena, getting ready to fight. The arena randomizer began.


	34. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

POV: Rocket

BRNZ had a pretty wide range of weapons. Two of them had close melee weapons, with an electric baton and a blade mounted over his knuckles while another had close ranged, in the form of wrist mounted razor blades, that could be launched. The last member had a sniper rifle.

The arena that was randomly chosen, was half mountains, and half forest, with the forest being behind BRNZ. As soon as the countdown hit zero, May, the sniper, sprinted back into the trees. Everyone else ran into the middle. They started almost one on one, with Pyrrha fighting Roy, the razor-blade user, Nora fighting Nolan, the baton user, and Jaune taking on Brawnz, the claw user. Ren was about to join in on the fight, when a sniper bullet went right by his head. Apparently May isn't the best at actually hitting things. Of course, that meant he had to run away or he would probably be hit. Jaune seemed to be trying to think of a plan that didn't involve just doing random 1v1s. But he couldn't really think of anything. In a different battle, Nora overswung and left herself open. Nolan took that opportunity to jab her with his baton, electrocuting her. She wasn't really being effected, and Nolan seemed confused.

Port: And there's Nora's semblance kicking in. She is able to absorb electricity and use it as energy!

Nolan swallowed and realized Nora was smiling as he was electrocuting her. She hit him, launching him into the forest. Jaune noticed a storm generating at the top of the mountain. He got his inspiration.

Jaune: Nora! Climb the mountain.

Nora: Ok!

Nora was a blur as she began to move up the mountain.

Pyrrha: What about the sniper?

Jaune: Ren, keep her busy.

Ren: Oka-

Another bullet went straight in front of him. He sighed, and then kept running. Jaune resumed fighting Brawnz. Nora was almost up the mountain when May finally noticed her.

Jaune: Pyrrha!

Pyrrha ran over to Jaune, and he used his shield to launch her into the air. Pyrrha was launched into the perfect position to block the bullet with her shield. Of course, Jaune was then left alone with Brawnz and Roy. They advanced on him. Jaune got ready, and then… Pyrrha, landed on Roy, knocking him to the ground. Brawnz, who was surprised by the sudden interference, was left open to Jaune crashing into him with his shield. Finally, lightning struck Nora, fully powering her. May was aiming her sniper rifle at Nora when she realized something. Nora was aiming something else at her. Nora's grenade launcher had opened up, and she launched all of the grenades at once. They flew at May in a heart shape. Just before they landed, May jumped out of the tree, which was blown up immediately after. In fact, most of the forest in the middle was blown up when Nora launched the grenades. May only left the explosion lightly blackened and exhausted. Both teams regrouped. BRNZ was all tired and on the brink of collapsing.

Jaune: Ok! Let's finish them off with team attacks! Flower power, go!

His team was silent, and still.

Jaune: Um, I said FLOWER POWER…

Team JNPR was still silent.

Jaune: Oh come on!

Nora: Why do you keep saying flower power?

Jaune: It's your team attack with Ren! Ren brings the flower, and you bring the power!

Ren: How do I bring a flower?

Nora: No, silly! You bring flour, like for baking!

Team BRNZ just seemed confused.

Jaune: You know what? Screw it. Just hit 'em with your hammer or something…

Nora took that command very happily. BRNZ did not.

Brawnz: Wait, what?!

Nora almost teleported over to them, because of how fast she was moving. I stopped time to see if I could predict the effects, and I noticed her hammer was aimed right for… well… a very painful area for Nolan. I resumed time. JNPR vs BRNZ ended with Nora getting a quad-elimination by both aura-breaking, and knocking them out of the arena. She had actually also knocked one of them unconscious. I assume Nolan, from pain.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Ozpin was sitting in his office when he got a call. It was from the Counsel of Remnant.

Ozpin: Hello?

Counselman: Ozpin, we need to talk. Ever since that little… incident with the breach, we've been thinking about something. We've decided that you are no longer viable to protect the people attending the Vytal festival. That is why we are assigning James Ironwood to the head of security while the festival lasts.

Ironwood: Thank you. Ozpin, this is the best choice from Vale. Trust me.

Ozpin looked out his window and saw that Ironwood had already moved most of his fleet into a guarding position around the city.

Counselman: After the Vytal festival, we will have to have a serious talk about your position as headmaster, Ozpin.


	35. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

POV: Rocket

Team RWBY and I were walking around the fairgrounds again, when we ran into a girl that had become one of Ruby's friends, named Emerald. She had bright green hair, and red eyes. Ruby didn't notice her, until she coughed. She had Ruby's wallet in her hand.

Emerald: I think you left this…

Ruby quickly checked all of her pockets, and realized that was her wallet.

Ruby: Oh, uh… thank you… girl pockets suck.

Ruby took the wallet and put it in her pocket.

Emerald: Nice job on the fight today!

Ruby: Thanks! Your's is up next, right?

Emerald: Yah, we think we've got this in the bag.

Ruby: Ah… Where even is your team? I don't think I've seen them yet.

Emerald: Well, that because… well…

She glanced over her shoulder. Mercury, her teammate with gray hair, was smelling a boot.

Emerald: They're really socially awkward…

Ruby: Ah…

Emerald: So, who are you sending into the next round?

Ruby: As leader I decided-

Weiss: We put it to a vote

Ruby: But I chose to put it to a vote. Anyways, we decided Weiss and Yang would move on.

Emerald: That's nice. I think it's time for us to go. Our match is in about 30 minutes, and we need to prepare. Come on, Mercury!

And with that, they walked away. Something didn't seem right while Emerald has been here. We've only really seen Mercury and Emerald, with Mercury being "too socially awkward to talk". Yah, I don't buy that. Mercury was smelling a boot, which is normally just done to check the quality. Not exactly socially debilitating. He seemed to be nice and chatty in the practice match against Pyrrha. It was also suspicious that he didn't even try in that practice match. He forfeited after only about a minute.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Emerald and Mercury were walking away from their encounter with team RRWBY.

Mercury: So, how are your new "friends"?

Emerald: I hate all of them. It's just… How can they be so HAPPY ALL THE TIME?

Mercury: Oh, don't worry, we won't have to deal with them for much longer. Did you get the info we needed?

Emerald: The heiress and the blondie.

There wasn't really much else to say from the two accomplices. They walked to the arena and got ready to fight a fight they already knew they would win.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We walked back to our rooms. I knew I would be fighting for another two days. They only have fights every couple days, and I'm on the second fighting day, next to team SSSN's fight. There had been 2 fights before RWBY's fight, and there was 1 more fight after Emerald and Mercury today. When we got to the room, they started strategizing.

Rocket: You realize I might be competing against you guys, right?

Blake: There is a pretty small chance of that, and even then, we need to strategize.

I looked out the window and saw a weirdly shaped ship. It was a plane with the wings in an "x" shape, with banners fluttering behind them. It was moving pretty fast. It crossed from the view of the window within seconds.

Rocket: That was a weird ship…

Ruby: Huh?

Suddenly everyone was at the window to look outside.

Ruby: I don't see one…

Then there was a loud roar, and it went right by the window.

Wiess: *Gasp* Winter!

And then, Weiss was out the door.

Ruby: I should go figure out what Weiss was talking about.

Rocket: I'll go with you. While we're doing that, you two can keep planning. That way, I won't be listening in on your plans, too.

Then, Ruby was out the door, running.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

There was a gruff, middle-aged man. When you looked at him the word "dusty" came to mind. He was drinking at a bar, watching the current match.

Bartender: Man, those kids can fight.

?: Meh, they aren't that good.

Bartender: How many of those have you had? Those kids were amazing!

The man looked outside and noticed the same airship Rocket had noticed minutes earlier.

?: I've got to go.

His words were slurred, and he stumbled out the door, his tattered red cape fluttering behind him. He was definitely drunk.

Bartender: Be careful! Oh, gee darn…

Those last words were used as he knocked one of the glasses off the counter.

POV: Rocket

We finally caught up to Weiss, and she was standing next to someone, who also had white hair, and a gray metallic sword. She noticed us as we walked up.

Weiss: Oh, and these are the leaders of our team! Rocket and Ruby. Rocket, Ruby, this is my sister, Winter.

Rocket: Nice to meet you.

Ruby: Hi! Good to meet'chya!

Winter: So, these are the leaders you spoke of?

It was obvious that Weiss had written to Winter about who we all were. I wonder if she mentioned Blake's faunus heritage?

Rocket: Yes, we are the co-leaders of team RRWBY.

Winter: Well, sister, I can't stay for very long, but I do have a break in my schedule, so I will check your sleeping quarters to make sure they are up to code.

Weiss: Ok! I-

Ruby: Just know the bunk beds only LOOK unstable.

Rocket: Hey, my knots are safe! The ceiling might not be strong enough though…

Winter: Wait, bunk beds?

She turned to Wiess.

Winter: That's a bit immature of you, Wiess.

Rocket: Actually, the decision was put to a vote. Weiss was the only one against.

Winter: Hmm… I will have to check your work.

Weiss whispered to us

Weiss: You guys should go ahead, to get the room ready.

Ruby: Ok, we have to go. We will meet up with you later- i mean, we will reconvene… at a later… junction.

When she looked up from trying to figure out fancy words, Weiss and Winter were walking away, not even listening.

Rocket: Just stick to informal. It suits you better.

Ruby: Well, I was trying to be impressive!

Rocket: I'm pretty sure you lost any semblance impressiveness in her eyes when you mentioned bunk beds.

Ruby threw pillow #8.

Rocket: Hey! Anyways, we should probably go get the room ready now.

And with that, we left for our room.


	36. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

POV: Omniscient

Winter and Weiss were walking back pretty slowly, which let Rocket and Ruby get ahead of them. If with that, they had only made it 37 steps, when they heard a clunk from behind them. When they turned around, there was a gruff, middle-aged man standing there. He had a tattered, red cape that was waving in the slight breeze. There was the head of an Atlesian knight on the ground in front of him, and the body was behind him.

Winter: You just destroyed Atlas military property.

?: Oh, I'm sorry! I must have mistaken this for some sort of… sentient garbage.

Weiss: Do you know who your talking t-

?: Shhshshh…

He put his hand directly on Weiss' head and pushed her out of the way.

?: I'm not here for you, ice queen.

Weiss: Hey!

Winter: You must not have heard me. I sa-

?: Oh, I heard plenty. I also heard that Ironwood finally turned his back on old Oz.

Weiss: Ozpin? What does he have to do with th-

Winter: I would suggest holding your tongue, or I will gladly remove it for you.

She drew her sword. It looked like a plain saber, but like most weapons, it probably had some sort of transformation.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We had cleaned the room and waited for about 5 minutes.

Rocket: We should probably go meet back up with them.

Ruby: Why? We could always clean the room again…

Rocket: I'm pretty sure you just left more of a mess that you picked up.

I ran outside quickly, before she could throw another pillow at me. When we made it out to a courtyard, there was a group of people, around a very fast fight. Weiss was standing to the side of the group, with a worried look. Mercury passed by me, walking away from the fight.

Rocket: What's going on?

Weiss: Some drunk guy walked up, and attacked my sister!

Ruby: Oh my gosh who would do such a thi- AND IT'S MY UNCLE! Kick her butt uncle Qrow!

Weiss: Wha- uh, teach him respect, Winter!

The were almost moving to fast to follow. Luckily, slowing down my perception of time is a thing. They split apart, and had a bit of a staredown. It was just then that I noticed Ironwood coming. Winter didn't notice, but Qrow did. He put away his sword, and beckoned to Winter. Of course, she took it as a taunt and used glyphs to launch herself forward. Her sword was about to hit him in the face, whe-

Ironwood: Schnee!

She stopped a couple of millimeters from his throat. Then, she snapped to attention.

Ironwood: What do you think you two are doing?

Winter: He started the altercation, sir!

Qrow: Actually, she attacked first.

Rocket: Are you counting verbal attacks as an attack?

Ironwood: Winter follow me, now. And Qrow, what are you doing here?

With that, Ironwood walked away, leaving Qrow standing in the middle of th-

Ruby: UNCLE QROOOOOW!

Ruby held onto her uncle's arm. She was barely small enough that she could hang onto to his arm, held straight out to the side, and not touch the ground.

Ruby: Hi. Oh, it's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Huh!? Did you miss me?!

Qrow looked at his niece for a second.

Qrow: Nah.

They both laughe-

Ozpin: Qrow. A word, please?

Qrow: I think I'm in trouble…

Ruby: You did kind of destroy our courtyard.

They looked over at a crater that had been made during the fight.

Qrow: Yah, I guess I did. I'll catch you later, kid.

With that, he lowered his arm, letting Ruby slip off.

Weiss: And suddenly your recklessness makes sense.

Ruby: You're just mad cause he kicked her butt.

Weiss: Hey, that was a DRAW at best!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Qrow and Winter had been split up to be disciplined. Qrow had been scolded by Glynda and Ozpin, while Ironwood listened to the whole story from Winter, and waited for the other group. Winter was pacing. Ironwood was standing behind where she was pacing. The elevator dinged. The door opened. Qrow stepped out, with Glynda and Ozpin behind him.

Ironwood: What were you thinking!? If you were one of my men, I would have you SHOT.

Qrow: If I was one of YOUR men, I'd shoot myself.

Glynda: Well, it certainly didn't help with Winter reacting as she did.

Winter: He was drunk!

Glynda: HE'S ALWAYS DRUNK.

They looked over, hearing a gulping sound. They saw Qrow drinking out of a canteen. They could smell the faint scent of vodka radiating from the bottle. He noticed them looking at him, and simply stopped drinking, looked up, and shrugged.

Ozpin: Qrow, why are you here?

Ironwood: You've been out of contact for weeks! You can't just go dark like that in the field.

Qrow: I'm not one of your "Special operatives", Jimmy.

Winter: That's GENERAL to you.

Qrow: Whatever. You sent me to get intel on the enemy. I'm telling you, our enemy is here.

Ironwood: We know.

Qrow: Oh! You know! Well thank goodness I'm out there, risking my life, to keep you all INFORMED!

Ironwood: Qrow!

Qrow got out his scroll.

Qrow: Communication 's a two way street pal. See that? THAT'S THE SEND BUTTON.

Winter: They had reasons to assume you had been compromised.

Qrow: And I have reasons to assume you don't need to be here. Seriously, who invited her?

Ironwood: *Sigh* Schnee, we'll discuss this back on the ship.

Winter: Yes sir.

Winter walked by Qrow and glared at him. He simply winked back. As soon as she was gone, everyone just looked at Qrow.

Ironwood: Go on.

Qrow: Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. They're the ones responsible for Autumn's condition.

Glynda: What?

Qrow took a deep breath, and thought for a second before speaking.

Qrow: Despite what the world thinks, we aren't just teachers, headmasters, or generals. The people in this room, the other two headmasters, we're the ones keeping the world safe from the evils no one even knows about. It's why we meet behind closed doors, and work from the shadows.

He walked over to right in front of Ironwood.

Qrow: So you tell me, James. When you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discreet, or did you just not give a damn?

Ironwood just stared for a second, then got out his scroll and placed it on the table.

Ironwood: Discreet wasn't working. I'm here because this is what was necessary.

Qrow: You're here, because Ozpin wanted you here! He made you a part of the inner circle, and opened your eyes to the real fight in front of us-

Ironwood: And I am grateful.

Qrow: Well, you've got a real funny way of showing it.

Ironwood: The people of Vale needed someone to protect them. Someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength.

Qrow just started laughing.

Ironwood: What?

Qrow: You think they care about your little ships? I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made, and let me tell you. They are fear.

Ozpin: And fear will bring the grimm. A guardian is a symbol of comfort. An army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a little question in the back of everyone's heads: "If this is the size of our defenses, what is it we are expecting to fight?"

Ironwood looked around, and the irritated faces around him. He walked over and picked up his scroll. Just before he touched it, though, the symbol of a queen chess piece appeared. No one noticed it before it disappeared.

Ironwood: So what would you suggest we do?

Ozpin: I suggest that we find our guardian.


	37. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

POV: Omniscient

Cinder was pacing back and forth in her room. Mercury was sitting on the floor, and Emerald was laying on the bed.

Cinder: And you're sure it was him?

Mercury: Red cape. Wielded that giant sword. Smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him.

Emerald: So what are we going to do?

Cinder: Well sit here, and stay the course. They have no idea who we are, are what's coming for them.

Her scroll beeped.

Cinder: Oh, and we have a new access point.

Ironwood's face popped up on her screen. She scrolled through all the files, and found something interesting, called the P.E.N.N.Y..

Cinder: I think we have a small change of plans here.

Emerald: So, what are your orders?

Cinder: Let's give the crowd a good fight. You will fight in 4 days, during the doubles round.

While she said that, Cinder used her scroll to set the fight for 4 days later. She set it as Mercury and Emerald vs. Coco and Yatsuhashi.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

I was in the arena the day after Winter arrived. It was my turn to fight, and it was me against team THDR. Their leader, Trent, could leave behind energy trails that acted solid, but would disappear after a few seconds. He used a quarterstaff. Then there was Herman, who used a sledgehammer. He could transfer kinetic energy through the ground in waves, with almost 100% efficiency. Next up, was Dracor, who used a sword that opened into a flamethrower. His semblance let him heat up nearby (Non-living) substances. Finally, there was Ridge, who used a water gun. He can freeze any water near him, but it takes more focus the further the ice is from him.

The terrain randomization system activated, and the result was a river on one side that flowed to off the stage, and the other was a fire geyser field. It's pretty much just like the geyser field, but it shoots fire up instead of water. The fire geysers were behind me I looked around the terrain, trying to find a place I could disappear. The fire geyser field had a few large rocks that I could ninja around...

Port: Ladies and gentlemen! Today's match is between Rocket, and team Thunder! Due to the special circumstances surrounding team RRWBY, Rocket was given the decision to either fight by himself against full teams, or not fight at all. He chose to fight. This match is bound to be interesting, so let's begin.

The countdown began. As soon as I heard go, I was off into the fire field, I was followed by Dracor and Herman. Trent and Ridge went back onto the river, standing on ice, courtesy of Ridge. Ridge was shooting ice at me. You thought I meant a squirt gun? No, it's more like a pressure washer than a water gun. Trent seemed to just be there to create a shield if the need be. Dracor opened his sword and slashed fire in my general direction. I jumped to the side, ducking under an icicle fired by Ridge. I slashed my scythe, cutting through another icicle. I flipped over Herman, who slammed the ground to try to catch me with the KE. Instead, he hit Dracor who was about to lunge at me. Dracor was launched out of the arena. When I landed, I hit Herman with the handle of my scythe, sweeping his legs out from underneath him, and quickly revered my strike to hit another icicle out of the air. I moved steadily towards Trent and Ridge, until Herman was behind me, fully recovered. He stood up and was about to ground-pound again, when I dodged an icicle instead of blocking it, and it hit him full in the face. Damaging him yet again. Trent finally realized I didn't actually have a ranged weapon, meaning Ridge didn't need cover. Trent went on the attack. Herman was almost all the way down, but he was still fighting. He got over confident though, knowing he had 2 other teammates, and he forgot that this was a fire geyser field. He pounded the ground while he was standing on a geyser. Even I winced and the explosion happened underneath him, launching him into the air, and over the side. Then, I turned to face Trent with a new strategy. I jumped over the next icicle, about to land on Trent. He use his staff to make a square trail, that I landed on. I used the shield as a jumping pad to jump over him, and slam the ground. The fire geyser in front of me activated, melting the next icicle. Another one underneath Trent activated, but he jumped out of the way. The leftover smoke left a nice little screen, that I jumped through, and batted him backwards, onto yet another fire geyser. I just tapped my scythe on the ground, activating it. I then turned to Ridge. He was still standing on his ice in the middle of the river. He realized he was the last one left, and desperately fired off rounds. I blocked them while walking forward. When I counted that he had 1 more shot left, (he had a limited supply of water) I threw my scythe, so it spun horizontally. He ducked, but lost all focus, dropping him into the river. Before he could create more ice and get out of the river, he was washed out of the arena.

Port: And the winner is… Rocket!

I walked over during the applause and recovered my scythe.


	38. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

POV: Omniscient

A couple days later, there was a match between Emerald and Mercury and Coco and Yatsuhashi and I went out to watch it. I had a feeling I already knew the winner, but I wanted to see how they went about it.

Port: For the match tonight we have Emerald and Mercury of Haven against Coco and Yatsuhashi of Beacon!

Finally, the randomizers started up. There were 4 this time, instead of 2, like usual. I was sitting with the rest of the team. Ruby had chosen a spot right next to Velvet, who I think made up around 30% of the cheering we heard. Either way, the randomizers chose a forest quadrant, a geyser quadrant, a grain field, and an urban jungle. Looking at it, it kind of reminded me of Mountain Glenn. The field and forest were behind Emerald and Mercury. As soon as the countdown was over, Emerald and Mercury stepped into the field. Yatsuhashi and Coco just glanced at each other, before Coco took out her gun. The crowd went crazy. She fired into the field, and her gun acted like a lawnmower, cutting down all of the grass. When all of it was gone, Emerald and Mercury weren't there! Yatsuhashi and Coco just waited in anticipation for the blow they knew were coming, but from where, they didn-

Yatsuhashi: Look out!

He pushed Coco out of the way and blocked a giant kick from Mercury. Mercury began absolutely wailing on them. Mercury was all over the place during the fight, something neither Yatsuhashi or Coco could keep up with with their oversized weapons. At one point, Mercury hit the back of Coco's gun, making the barrel go into Yatsuhashi's stomach. Coco quickly switched it back to briefcase form, something she should have done a while ago, and swung and Mercury, who was still behind her from the kick. He easily jumped backward and fired off two shots from his shoes. They spun around each other, but each one managed to still be aimed at either Yatsuhashi or Coco. They easily blocked them, Yatsuhashi cutting through one, and Coco hitting the other to the side. When they turned back around, Mercury was breakdancing, and firing the shots into the air. They have to be controllable, or else he wouldn't be able to keep them in the air like that. After even just a few seconds, he had a tornado whipping around him, made up of hundreds of whatever that projectile is. Then, they all were flung at Yatsuhashi and Coco, who couldn't block all of them. They were dazed for a second. Coco was hit a lot harder that Yatsuhashi was, since she was more of a glass cannon. Coco stumbled back in the mist that the explosions had created, when Emerald's sickles came out of nowhere and looped around Coco with chains attached to the back. Coco was dragged into the forest.

Yatsuhashi: Coco!

That was when he was hit in the face by Mercury. Unfortunately for Mercury, he didn't get out of reach in time, and was grabbed by Yatsuhashi, who threw him into the geyser fields and followed with a jump. This was the kind that I've seen destroy entire streets in a single blow, and Mercury just used his feet to catch the sword, and then he sprang up off his back throwing Yatsuhashi off. Yatsuhashi landed on his feet though, and the close combat quickly resumed. They both seemed to be at a stalemate until Yatsuhashi was kicked onto a geyser, which activated in his face. While he was blinded, Mercury got off a finishing move.

I didn't see much of what happened to Coco in the trees, but the next thing I saw was Coco sent flying next to Yatsuhashi. Both were unconscious.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Weiss was with Winter, talking while practicing. It was Winter's last day in the area. Winter was breaking the news to Weiss.

Weiss: Wait, you're… leaving?

Winter: I was only needed to oversee the shipment of new units to Vale. Our last shipment was taken in a raid. I believe you actually had a run in with the cargo. It's lucky it was still in it's prototype phase, or else you might not have fared so well.

Weiss seemed very disheartened by that comment. She had thought that that was quite a difficult fight, and it was only against a prototype?

Winter: Weiss, you've… done well. Out here on your own. You should be proud.

That seemed to cheer up Weiss quite a lot, since even a few words of praise from Winter was equal to volumes of praise from anyone else.

Winter: I'll be honest, it was quite amusing seeing father's face the day you left for Beacon.

Weiss: I can't wait to show him what I've learned!

Winter: Oh? And what do you think you've learned?

Weiss: What do you mean? I'm getting better and better with my glyphs, I've even started time dilati-

Winter: And what of your summoning?

Weiss: I- I don't even think I can do it at this point…

Winter: Don't be silly, of course you can! Every Schnee has the ability to summon. We have for generations!

Weiss: It's just… It's the one thing I'm having trouble with.

Winter sighed.

Winter: We Schnee's are unique. Unlike many, our semblance is hereditary, but that does not mean it will come easily. Your semblance is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it will become. If you only use one part of it, if you fail to test the limits of what you can do, then you'll never truly grow.

Winter, within seconds, summoned a beowulf. Instead of it's usual color, though, it was white and light blue.

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POV: Rocket

Ruby: You'll never beat me, old man!

Qrow: You're nothin' but talk, kid.

Yang: You can do it, Ruby!

They were playing a ninja fighting game, and Ruby looked like she was winni-

Announcer: Soaring Ninja Wins! Total annihilation!

That was Qrow.

Qrow: Also, NEVER CALL ME OLD.

Yang: Ok, now it's my turn.

Yang jumped to the controller, knocking Ruby out of the way.

Announcer: A new challenger approaches!

Qrow: Now where was I?

Ruby: You were telling us about your last mission!

Qrow: Oh, right. I came across a small village in Mistral, West of the swamps. Right off the bat, I knew something wasn't right.

Ruby: What were you doing there?

Qrow: I needed information. Tired from battling Grimm along the way, I decided to start my search at the local tavern. The place was crawling with low-lifes and thugs, even a few huntsmen I could only assume had been hired by less than reputable people, for less than respectable jobs. And that's when it happened.

Yang: What happened?

Qrow: I was defeated… by the mere sight… of the innkeepers skirt length!

Announcer: Soaring Ninja Wins! Absolute domination!

I don't even know how he won, since he didn't have either hand on the controller while he told his story.

Yang: You jerk!

Yang threw pillow #9.

Yang: You are the worst!

Qrow and Ruby started laughing. I couldn't help but join in, since he had flawlessly distracted Yang entirely while he had told his story.

Rocket: I'm next!

Announcer: A new challenger approaches!.

Ruby: So, did you get in trouble with Ozpin?

Qrow: Nah, me and Oz go way back. We're cool.

Yang: Cool for an old guy.

Qrow: Hey, I'm not old.

Ruby: So what are you doing here anyways? I thought you were supposed to be on a mission for, like, forever.

Qrow: Well, a professional huntsman like myself is expected to get results as soon as possible.

Ruby: Yah, I get that. We're basically pros at this point.

Qrow: Oh really?

Yang: Pshh! Yah, read the news sometime! We totally saved Vale while you were gone.

Qrow: Funny, cause I heard that Vale suffered a Grimm attack the likes of which it's never seen… after you ALMOST managed to stop a train. And they don't give out medals for almost.

Ruby: They do and it's called SILVER!

Yang: Yah, well we helped take down Roman Torchwick. He's locked up on Ironwood's ship, and crimes been down ever since. That's basically a bounty mission.

Qrow: You might be acting like huntresses, but you're not thinking like one. Did you seriously think that 4 girls, a boy, and their dog could end all crime in Vale?

Ruby: I mean, I did until you said that…

Qrow: Violence hasn't just gone down since Roman got nabbed, it's stopped. COMPLETELY. No white fang activity anywhere. You cut off the head of a king Taitaju, but now the other head is calling the shots. That's what Ironwood can't get through that thick, metal, skull of his.

Yang: You… know the general?

Qrow: Hey, I know everyone to some extent. Remember, you're talking to a member of the coolest team to ever graduate Beacon. Team STRQ. That's when I met your parents.

He held out a picture to Ruby and Yang. Yang seemed mesmerized by one of them. Judging by the fact that the other female looked suspiciously like Ruby, I'm guessing that one was her mom.

Qrow: We were pretty well known back in the day.

Ruby: Well known for crummy fashion sense…

Qrow: Hey, we looked good. And I have a number of inappropriate stories to prove it… But I'll save those for when you're older.

Announcer: Dragon Ninja Wins!

Rocket: YES!

Qrow: Huh, it's about time one of you beats me.

He got up.

Qrow: Well, it's time I get going. I'm a bit too old to be hanging out with a bunch of kids. You're gonna cramp my style. Look, just remember that you've still got a long way to go. And don't think for a second that graduation means you're done learning! Each day out there is worth a week in this place. You three… you're gonna go far. As long as you keep learning. if you never stop moving forward. Do that, and you'll be fine.

Saying that, Qrow walked out.


	39. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

POV: Omniscient

Weiss and Winter, after their previous exchange, had begun working on summoning.

Winter: Excellent form! Now think of your fallen foes. The ones that forced you to push yourself past who you were, and into who you are now. Think of them, and watch as they come to your side.

Weiss stopped angrily. Her glyph had started to fade, and she couldn't stand another one disappearing completely on its own, so she just it off.

Weiss: I can't!

Winter: Yes you can! Stop doubting yourself.

Weiss: I'm trying!

Winter: If this is what you call trying, you have no hope of winning the tournament! Let alone succeeding as a huntress. Why don't you just move back home? I'm sure father will give you a nice, easy job as a RECEPTIONIST.

Weiss: I don't need his charity!

Winter: But you do need his money, don't you?

Weiss: What?! How did you know about that?

Winter: Lucky guess. I may have been in a similar position when I first joined the military. So, what have you done this time?

Weiss: That's the thing… I'm really not sure… I went to pay for lunch the other day, but my card didn't work.

Winter: How embarrassing.

Weiss: I know, right?

Winter just shook her head.

Weiss: Well it was! Why would he just cut me off?

Winter: Maybe so you would stop avoiding him and call home.

Weiss just went back to trying to summon. A glyph appeared again and began spinning.

Winter: Emotions can grant you strength, but you must never let them overpower you.

She grabbed onto Weiss' shoulder. The glyph disappeared.

Winter: It seems to me like you have two choices in front of you. You can either call him, beg for his money back, and explain once more why you chose Beacon over Atlas, or you can continue exploring Remnant, learning more about the world and truthfully more about yourself. It's time for me to go.

Weiss: It's been nice to see you.

They embraced.

Winter: Until next time, sister.

The split apart. It was also time for Weiss to go to the arena to fight in one of the next battles. The path they had to go on went in opposite directions.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

On the walk to the arena, Weiss got a call. It was from her father. She let it ring for a second, before closing her eyes, denying the call, and putting her scroll back in her pocket, now fully split from the Schnee Dust Company and its income.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV:Omniscient

Penny was facing off against Dove and Russel. She used 16 swords, split into 2 wheels of 8 blades. She threw one at each of them. Both dodged behind a nearby rock. Penny's swords attached to the rocks, and stuck. Both Dove and Russel tried to climb over the rock to attack, but Penny had a different idea. While they were climbing onto the rocks, Penny simply lifted them up, and slammed them back down on the ground. Dove and Russel were both taken down by that one.

Oobleck: And the winners are… Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

Ruby and I went to go congratulate Penny after that match. After all, she had just defeated two opponents in 1 move. We saw Penny and Ciel near the exit.

Ruby: Penny!

Penny: Hey, Ruby!

They hugged.

Ruby: Gak!... you're... crushing… me…

Penny let go, and Ruby dropped to the ground, completely out of breath.

Penny: Ruby, this is my teammate-

Ciel: Ciel Soleil.

Ruby: Oh, nice to meet you! I'm-

Ciel: Ruby Rose, 15, hails from Patch, mental status: Questionable.

Rocket: What do you guys have about me?

Ciel: Hmm… I don't even know your name…

Ruby: So... . Penny! You two were incredible out there! How do you keep control over all those swords? It's so cool!

Penny: I-

Ciel: Penny, I believe it would be best if we moved on to our next location.

Penny: Could we have just a minute to talk?

Ciel took a step back and nodded. She was out of earshot.

Ruby: So is she… your friend… or?

Penny: In a way, she's like Blake, if Blake was ordered to be around you.

Rocket: So, Weiss?

Both of the girls started laughing.

Ruby: So, does SHE know about… you know… beep boop bop?

Penny: Oh, no. General Ironwood does not want anyone to know. There was an incident with a magnet yesterday, but I was able to play it off.

They both started giggling again.

Penny: Ruby, there's something I've wanted to talk to you about. I want to stay at Beacon.

Ruby: Penny, you know they would never let you do that…

Penny: Don't worry! I have a pla-

Ciel stepped back forward angrily.

Ciel: It has been precisely 1 minute MA'AM.

Penny: I'll talk to you more soon, Ruby!

They walked awa-

Port: The next match will start in 15 minutes!

Ruby: Oh that's right! Up next we have-

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Weiss and Yang were standing in the middle of the arena, waiting for their opponents. Yang was stretching.

Yang: Welp, looks like it's our turn.

Weiss: Just remember to keep proper form.

Yang: Yah, yah. You're from Atlas, what can we expect.

Weiss: Well, seeing as the military as basically merged with their academy, we can probably expect strict, militant fighters with highly advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strateg-

There was a whoosh as on of their opponents when right by them. Standing in front of them, were two teenagers, each with sloppier costumes than anything Weiss was expecting. Their names were Flynt Coal, and Neon Cat

Weiss: Or, whoever those two are-

Flynt: Hey, you're Weiss Schnee aren't you? The heiress.

Weiss: Yes, I am.

Flynt: I take it you're pretty good with dust then?

Weiss: I try my best-

Flynt: Yah, my dad was good too… He even owned a dust shop of his own. That is, until your company ran him out of business!

Weiss: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, I-

Flynt: Sure you are…

Yang: Hey why don't you-

Neon: "Hey why don't you-". That's what you sound like.

Yang: Grr…

Neon: Hey, where did you get your hair extensions?

Yang: Um, this is just my normal hair…

Neon: Oh… bleg...

Yang: Hey!

Just then, the randomizer started up. The arena ended up being split into 4 sections. The first, was another lava geyser zone. The next, was a urban jungle. The next, was a normal geyser field, and the last one was a desert zone.

Port: 3! 2! 1!


	40. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

POV: Rocket

Port: Go!

Immediately, Flynt put his trumpet to his face, playing a single note. Normally, it wouldn't do anything, but this isn't a normal situation. A horizontal tornado-like cone was made in front of the trumpet, hitting Yang and Weiss. Neon then jumped in. Since she was going with the blast of wind, she was pushed forward. Since Weiss was anchored by a glyph, Neon attacked Yang. Yang was launched into the urban jungle, where Neon proceeded to taunt her. Meanwhile, Weiss was making progress in the cone. She was using her glyphs to push her forward, so she slowly made it closer to Flynt. He realized her strategy, and immediately stopped playing. Weiss couldn't react fast enough, so she was thrown forward, into the geyser field. Flynt slowly walked forward. He had some revenge to take. While Weiss and Flynt were fighting, Neon was still just messing around with Yang, trying to goad her into throwing a tantrum. Neon apparently hasn't done her research, since she didn't expect Yang to accidentally destroy an entire building. Neon ran away, occasionally hitting Yang with her Ice nunchucks, still throwing insults. Even I could hear her high pitched, annoying voice. She ended up just circling Yang and throwing insults for a minute. When I looked back over, Weiss was getting destroyed. She kept trying to use her glyphs to move around him, but he kept just knocking her out of it. Eventually, Flynt split into 4 of himself, each with their own trumpet. Then, all 4 of them played at the same time, launching Weiss even further, into solid rock. Flynt turned around and saw Yang being heckled by Neon, who was just going in a wide circle around Yang.

Yang: Just SHUT UP!

Neon: Wow, you should seriously go to an anger management class…

All 4 of Flynt's copies turned to Yang. While he was walking closer to the pair, Weiss woke back up and saw Flynt about to attack Yang in a move that would be the end of her. She also saw a geyser right next to him. She knew what she had to do. She stealthily snuck up behind the Flynt copy furthest from the geyser. She grabbed him and dragged/pushed all 4 copies into the geyser next to them, going in with them. As soon as all 5 of them were in the geyser, it went off.

Port: Did Weiss just sacrifice herself to take Flynt Coal out of the battle? Amazing!

Yang: Huh?

She looked over at the geyser field and saw Weiss laying next to the geyser, where the explosion had launched her out. Then she saw someone step out of the smoke left over in the geyser.

Port: What is this? Flynt survived the geyser! It is now a 2v1. What will Ms. Xiao Long do?

Neon stopped heckling Yang and rolled over to Flynt.

Neon: Oh, don't worry, she's easy. All you have to do is piss her off a bi-

Yang suddenly released all of her built up anger, in one shout. The sonic wave from her roar activated all of the geysers behind her.

Port: It looks like Yang getting angry and you won't like her when she's… upset.

Flynt and Neon did the same attack that they opened with, launching Neon at Yang. Yang used her shot-gauntlets to launch herself forward, over Neon. Neon was sent flying into the fire geyser area, where her skates just aren't useful. Yang was still trapped in the stream. I would imagine space itself was bending around her as she moved forward through the stream of the Killer Quartett. She ended up with one fist blocking up the main Flynt's trumpet. Suddenly all of the streams stopped. There was a moment of silence. Then Yang fired. The last bit of aura Flynt had was cleared out. Meanwhile Neon was trying to skate around in the geyser field to get back to the fight. Then, a pebble happened. She tripped and rolled a couple times. When Yang turned around, Neon had been launched into the air by a geyser. Yang fired one shot that took out Neon.

Port: And the Winner is… Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee!

Yang then remembered something, or, rather, someone.

Yang: Weiss!

She ran over to where the heiress had fallen. Weiss was covered in soot and was just starting to return to consciousness. Her voice was weak.

Weiss: Did we win?

The rest of us arrived, ready to help Weiss if necessary.

Yang: Yah. Are you ok?

Weiss: *Cough* I… don't think I'll be singing for a while…

Flynt: You have guts, Schnee. Sacrificing yourself like that? You have my respect.

Neon: That… Was… AMAZING! You guys were awesome!

Ruby: I mean, now the last doubles match is just-

Oobleck: Our next match starts in 15 minutes, between Rocket, and team SSSN's Sun and Neptune!


	41. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

POV: Rocket

Sun and Neptune were sitting in the middle of the arena, playing cards while waiting for the match to start.

Rocket: Hey, what are you guys playing?

Sun: It's Blackjack! I'm playing as the house.

Rocket: But isn't Blackjack designed so the house wins?

Sun: Um… No! It's totally not…

Rocket: Well, are you betting actual money?

Neptune: I'm betting money, he isn't for some reason…

I just facepalmed. This was going to be such an interesting match.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

We actually had our weapons ready this time, and the match was about to start.

Sun: You ready to get rekt?

I didn't respond.

Sun: I said are yo-

Rocket: Sorry, I thought you were talking amongst yourselves.

I looked behind them, at where team RWBY was seated. The team seemed to be split on who they want to win. The randomizer started up.

Rocket: I swear if it's another fire geyser field…

And that's what 2 of the sectors became.

Rocket: OH COME ON!

They were the two behind me. The two behind Sun and Neptune became a desert with a sandstorm, and a bunch of floating, black, blocks. I think I know where I'm going…

Port: 3! 2! 1! Go!

The first thing they did was attack. The first thing I did was jump over both their heads and run into the floating block area. Something that I think I haven't mentioned yet, is that I have a pair of gloves with wiring weaved into the fabric. When an electric signal is passed through the wires, it becomes magnetic. The gloves were a required project back at Signal, since they would apparently help us hold onto our weapons better. Unfortunately, mine was wooden, so it didn't help me. Still, they found their use that day. I easily jumped between the blocks, using my gloves to stick to the sides. I waited for them to attack I didn't have to wait long.

Sun: Where did he go?

Neptune: He just… disappeared!

Is funny how no one seems to ever look up when they look for people. After they passed right under me, I silently dropped behind them. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that both of them were trembling and tensed in anticipation as if their body wanted to prepare for a blow that they knew was coming. I love being feared. I aimed the first strike at Sun. I quickly hit his staff out of his hands, and into Neptune's gun, as he was firing. That caused his first shot to go flying off into the distance. I ducked a roundhouse kick from Sun. He has really fast reflexes. Neptune finally got his act together and successfully aimed his gun at me. He never fired though. My scythe launched his gun into the air before he could do that. Sun went for a sweep, which I simply jumped over, catching Neptune's gun. While in the air, I separated my mind from the timeflow, giving me plenty of time to aim directly at Neptune's feet. I fired and rejoined my mind into the timeflow. The explosion caused by the rocket threw Neptune almost out of the arena. He got back up as I threw the pike at him. I then turned to Sun, who had retrieved his bo-staff. He quickly summoned 2 clones, and I quickly destroyed both of them. He followed them, splitting his staff into gunchuck form. I had already seen his strategy once before against Roman. I blocked the bullets easily and waited for my time to strike. At a point where both gunchucks were in the air, I swiped my scythe, catching both. As soon as he was disarmed, I hit him in the side of the head with the end of my scythe. I heard a hissing sound. I quickly turned around and slashed. I cut the missile that was headed straight for me in two. They both exploded behind me, almost hitting Sun. I took a single step back, into the smoke. When it faded, I was gone. I had jumped up on top of the block above them. I climbed to the top, waiting for them to follow. I made sure to be seen and make noise, so they would follow. I looked at the stat board. Sun and Neptune were both pretty low on aura, while my bar was still full. Just then, both of them made it to the top. Sun a few second ahead of Neptune, because of the monkey tail. I just waited. I waited for my- Neptune fired. Instead of doing what I did before by cutting it in half, I put away my scythe. I stepped to the side, caught the missile, and before they could react, threw it at them. The explosion rocked the block we were standing on. They both fell off. I fell off too, but with a bit more grace.

Neptune: Too high! WAY too high!

Before the 3 of us hit the ground. I use one of my magnetic gloves, caught the corner of a block, and use my scythe to drag all 3 of us onto a different block. When they stood up, I tapped both of them on the shoulder, lowering their aura just enough to count as eliminations.

Rocket: And, done.

The crowd was quiet for a second, not quite realizing what had happened. As soon as the replay finished, everyone was laughing.


	42. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

POV: Rocket

The next few days were pretty boring. They flew by with training, training, and more training. I saw Yang a few times, but she was too anxious to chat. After all, she was up next against Mercury. I had 3 days after that fight until I would be up against the winner of that fight.

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It was the day of the fight. It was seemingly going to be the biggest fight yet since everyone had seen Yang and Mercury's previous fights. The turnout was out the doors. People were ready for this fight. Yang and Mercury were out in the center, shaking hands before the fight. The arena wasn't randomized for this fight, they only had a small circle of grey tile. Luckily for them, I don't think they planned to do much long distance fighting. They both got into a combat stance.

Port: 3! 2! 1! GO!

Immediately they started circling closer. When they were within reach of each other, the fight began. Yang attacked first with an easily predictable roundhouse, which Mercury ducked. He jumped backward, bicycle kicking Yang and doing a backflip. Yang stumbled back, before recovering, and quickly x-blocking an overhead kick from Mercury. She launched him off by firing both gauntlets at once. He landed. They traded blows so quickly, that it was nearly impossible to keep up with. Yang's impacts had a golden glow, while, with every step, Mercury left a silvery trail. Mercury did a roundhouse kick, which Yang easily ducked under. Then, showing an extreme amount of muscle control, he reversed the kick while his foot was still in the air and stomped. Yang rolled backward. Mercury charged and tried yet another roundhouse kick. Yang ducked it, but this time, she uppercut him quickly after and elbowed him in the stomach. When he instinctively doubled over, she used her other arm to punch him in the face. He landed flat on his back. Yang jumped to do a ground-pound, but Mercury rolled out of the way. He got up with a sweep, which Yang jumped over. As soon as she landed, she looked up. Mercury was making a tornado again. Yang dodged a few of the shots on their way up, but then Mercury himself attacked with the tornado going around them. His first kick was aimed at her face, the next, her waist. Finally, he did a flat-footed front kick, launching Yang backward. While she was still down, all of the bullets rained from the skies. A cloud of dust went up. Mercury walked away and brushed the dust off his shoulder, victoriously smiling at the audience. Suddenly he heard an explosion behind him. He slowly turned around and got a face-full of fist. Yang used her gauntlets to power up her punches, which were already overpowering because of her semblance. Mercury didn't stand a chance. His aura was down immediately

Port: And the winner is… Yang Xiao Long!

Yang was walking away, when Mercury walked up behind her and offered her his hand.

Mercury: Good job, blondi-

Then Yang did the unbelievable. After the fight, completely unprovoked, on live television, she broke his leg with a single punch.

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POV: Omniscient

Pyrrha was sitting in Ozpin's office, unaware of the events that had just played out in the arena.

Ozpin: Ms. Nikos, it has come as no surprise that you have been chosen to move on to the final round of the tournament. Your performance has been exemplary.

Pyrrha: Thank you, Professor, but I would never have made it this far without my teammates.

?: Personally, I think it's the other way around.

Pyrrha turned in her seat, to find a dusty old man with a tattered, red cap leaning on the wall of Ozpin's office.

Pyrrha: I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've been introduced.

Qrow: The name's Qrow.

Ozpin: Qrow is a trusted colleague of mine.

There was a moment of awkward silence as neither Qrow or Pyrrha said anything.

Pyrrha: So… professor Ozpin. If you don't mind me asking, why did you call me here today?

Ozpin: Straight to the point, I see. Well, first I have a question of my own to ask you. What is your favorite fairy tale?

Pyrrha: My favorite fairy tale?

Ozpin: Fairy tales. Kids stories from your childhood. Surely you must remember some of them.

Pyrrha: Well… there's the tale of the Two Brother, there's the Old man and the Shallow Sea…

Ozpin: Have you ever heard the Tale of the Seasons?

Pyrrha: I… can't say that I have.

Ozpin: Well, let's fix that, shall we?

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Ozpin's Story

Once upon a time, deep in the forest of Remnant, beside a mighty river, stood the small, fragile home of a cold, frail old man- A lone wizard. Hidden from the dangers and distractions of this world, the man seldom had visitors. But on this day, as he peered out his window, his gaze fell upon a young maiden. Calmly, she sat beneath his tree in a state of absolute tranquility. When the wizard demanded an explanation, she simply replied, "My name is Winter. I am on a journey, and I am waiting for my sisters". With that, she closed her eyes and sat in silence. The wizard told himself the girl was a fool, but the longer she sat, the more he wished to share in the serenity the young woman enjoyed. In time, he grew tired and decided to close his eyes as well, thinking on this strange predicament. Upon opening his eyes, the wizard was befuddled to find that a second maiden had appeared beneath his tree, cheerful and spry with a basket of fruit and flowers. When the wizard demanded an explanation, she simply replied, "My name is Spring. I am on a journey, and I am waiting for my sisters". To show her gratitude for his reluctant hospitality, the girl retrieved a handful of seeds from her basket, and planted them in the wizard's garden. The old hermit could hardly believe his eyes, as the maiden turned what was once a mere pile of dirt and manure into a beautiful garden from which life would surely blossom. It's likely he would have gazed for hours, were it not for the unfamiliar laughter he heard from beneath his tree. I young woman with a warm smile now stood beside the two other maidens. The wizard begged her to introduce herself, to which she happily responded, "My name is Summer. I am on a journey and I'm waiting for my sister". "Of course!" Thought the wizard, until another chirp of laughter left the old man perplexed. What in the world was so funny? As it turned out, it was him. The new arrival found the wizard's insistence on staying indoors so very amusing. Why choose to view the world through a small window, when the door outside was right next to you? It was a compelling argument. And after only a brief moment of hesitation, the wizard left his home, and stepped outside. The warmth of the sun brought with it a surge of energy and life, and soon, the wizard wasn't feeling like his old self anymore, he was feeling much better! As the day drew to a close, the wizard and the maidens all gathered for a feast. Winter set the table, Spring supplied the crops, and Summer prepared the meal. The wizard was the happiest he had been in ages. But in all the excitement, the wizard had failed to notice the delicate woman that now stood beneath his tree. He smiled and beckoned her to join them, asking only her name. She replied, "My name is Autumn, and I am here to meet my sisters. Who are you?". " _Me?_ " the wizard wondered. "I'm just an old hermit. I've lived in these woods for centuries alone, and I'm afraid my story isn't very interesting, as I have no one to love, and nothing to my name." The elder sister looked up at all that surrounded them. "But sir, do you not see? You have so much!" It was true. With their help, it was now clear that the wizard had everything he could ever need. He was grateful, but still, a question lingered in his mind. "Why me?" He asked. "Why did the four of you choose to open my eyes, to share with me your gifts? Why am I so special…" The four sisters looked at eachother perplexed. Finally, the eldest spoke. "I beg your pardon sir, but we did not do these things for you because you were special. We do what we can for everyone, because we are able." The old wizard was at a loss. Never in all his years had he come across such kindness. It was in that moment that he knew what should be done. The wizard summoned his magic, every ounce that he could muster, and bestowed it upon the sisters. He smiled. "Take this gift, and know that you are now able to do so much more." The four sisters, now armed with the elements, the very power of nature, and the unimaginable magic of the wizard, the four maidens, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall, promised to carry on with their journey, using their magic to aid others just as they had aided him. One by one the sisters left. Before they left, they made one last promise. They promised to return each and every year, to visit their dear friend.

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Pyrrha: Oh, I think I remember that one, now. It was my mother's favorite.

Ozpin: Would you believe me if I told you that that tale has been around, even since I was a boy?

Pyrrha: Professor, you're not THAT old!

Ozpin: Now, would you believe me if I told that it was true?

The smile on her face was replaced by a look of confusion.

Pyrrha: I beg your pardon?

Ozpin: What if I told you that there were four maidens, existing in this world, who could wield such tremendous powers… without dust.

Pyrrha: You mean like a semblance?

Ozpin: No. Like magic.

Pyrrha: What…?

Qrow: Yep. First time hearing it is pretty crazy.

Pyrrha: You're… serious.

Ozpin: Do I look like I'm joking?

There was a moment of near silence, with the clockwork in the ceiling ticking the seconds by.

Pyrrha: No. You don't. But… why are you telling me this?

A look passed between Ozpin and Qrow, and Qrow seemed to send a look saying "After you".

Ozpin: We are telling you, Pyrrha Nikos, because we all believe you might be next in line to receive the maiden's powers.

Pyrrha: We… all?

Then, the elevator dinged before opening to reveal Ironwood and Glynda.

Ironwood: Sorry we're late.

Pyrrha turned back to Ozpin, even more confused.

Pyrrha: Who… who are you?

Glynda: You know who we are. We are the same teachers and headmaster we were when you first came to Beacon.

Qrow: The thing is… we have a bit of a part time job, aside from all that.

Ironwood: We are the protectors of the world...

Ozpin: And Pyrrha… we need your help.


	43. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

POV: Omniscient

Pyrrha was in the elevator, thinking about what she had just heard. She snapped back to reality, as the floor indicator went into the negatives.

Pyrrha: Where are we going?

Ozpin: To the vault; under the school.

Pyrrha: The vault…?

Just as she said that, they arrived. The elevator doors opened to a dimly lit room, which was absolutely massive. Along the walls, at least 20 support pillars were spaced a pretty decent distance apart, and there was a massive machine up against the far wall. She realized that the rest of the group had already left the elevator and quickly followed them, hearing the elevator click shut behind her. As they were walking, Glynda slowed down, falling into step with Pyrrha.

Glynda: I'm sure you must have questions.

Pyrrha: Just… one or two… I still don't understand. You said I was next in line to receive the maiden's power. What do you mean by that?

Glynda: The maidens have existed for thousands of years. But seasons change; no two summers are alike. Just like the seasons, the maidens change. When one maiden dies, the power moves on to another, ensuring that the power survives, and that no one person gets the power forever.

Pyrrha: How does it decide?

Qrow: Through a series of convoluted and specific rules.

Glynda: Qrow!

Qrow: Hey, don't get mad because I'm right.

Glynda: You see, at first, the only pattern we could find in the maiden's power, was that it only passed on to young women. But, as time went on, another rule was discovered. Now, it is known that when a maiden dies, the one who was in her thoughts last is the first candidate to gain the powers.

Qrow: Unless that person is a man or some old hag. Then, it goes to someone random. And our jobs get a lot harder.

Pyrrha: Ok, but why tell me all of this now? Why not wait until I've graduated?

Qrow: Honestly, we've run out of time. If you haven't noticed, things are a lot scarier out in the world. Tensions are high. Grimm are swarming. It won't take long for this peace that we've all enjoyed for so long goes out the window.

Pyrrha: War?

Ironwood: Yes, but not a war between nations.

Qrow: Look, we'll fill you in on the details once we know you're with us. All you need to know right now, is that the fall maiden has been attacked. For the first time in history, the power has been stolen.

Finally, they made it to the machine. A constant beeping sound emanated from it. On on side, there was a glass container. In the container, laid a girl in all white. Her eyes were closed and her face was scarred.

Pyrrha: Is that…

Ozpin: The current fall maiden. Amber.

Pyrrha: She's… still alive?

Ironwood: Barely. The most advanced technology in the world is currently being used to keep her stable… but we're not sure how much longer it'll work. Certain things about this situation are a bit… unprecedented.

Pyrrha: From what you've told me, wouldn't the power just transfer to the next host?

Ironwood: Under normal circumstances, yes. But this situation is a bit more delicate. Is isn't uncommon for the final thoughts of the slain to be of their attacker. And then, there is how the power is split. That's never happened before. For all we know, it might just seek out it's other half.

Pyrrha: Her assailant…

Ozpin: And that would not bode well for any of us.

Pyrrha walked over to the glass container housing Amber. Looking into Amber's face, she saw her reflection staring back from shinier areas of the glass.

Pyrrha: If all of this is true, why keep it a secret? If we are truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?

Glynda: From what we understand, knowledge of the maidens used to be common knowledge.

Qrow: How do you think fairy tales and myth get started? It all begins with a grain of truth.

Glynda: Our group was founded with two goals. To protect humanity, and the maidens. People are constantly hunting their power.

Qrow: And, as you can imagine, the people hunting aren't exactly the type of people you would want with that power.

Ironwood: And so, we allowed knowledge of the maidens to fade away from public eye.

Glynda: Everything we have told you goes against years of human history. People would never believe us.

Ozpin: It would cause a panic. And we all know what panic brings clawing to our walls.

Silence stretced out, only broken by Pyrrh-

Pyrrha: I'll do it. If it's for the good of humanity, I'll do it. I'll become your fall maiden.

The group looked to one another, not quite sure how to respond.

Pyrrha: That's what you wanted, right?

Ozpin: Yes, but… It's not that simple. Given Amber's state, you would never be able to inherit her powers naturally. However, we believe we have a solution. The machine you see in front of you might be able to transfer her aura to you. We believe the maidens powers are directly connected with aura, so it will almost definitely give you the powers.

Pyrrha: Why do I see a big "but" coming?

Ozpin: But, we don't know what else such a procedure will change. It could change your personality, or even your body.

Qrow: We don't know if it's going to work. And if i does, we don't know if you will still be you.

Ozpin: You have a big decision ahead of you, Miss Nikos. That's why we're going to give you time to decide.

Pyrrha: How much?

Ozpin: While I would love to give you as much time as you need, Amber's attacker has made their first move, and we do not know when they will strike again. You have until the end of the Vytal Festival to decide.


	44. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

POV: Rocket

I got back to a room in chaos. Yang was sitting on the bed silently, and everyone else was shouting. Not at her, but at each other.

Weiss: How could you not believe her?! She's your teammate!

Blake: I know, but I don't know what to believe anymore…

Weiss: But she's your teammate!

Blake: Yang. Look into my eyes and tell me that you didn't attack him unprovoked.

Yang turned and looked into her eyes for a second.

Yang: He attacked me. I was just defending myself.

Blake: Thank you.

Rocket: I'm back. What all did I miss?

Everyone turned, startled at my sudden appearance.

Ruby: Um, nothing much. We were just trying to figure out what happened.

Rocket: Ah… Ok. Yang, what exactly did you see and hear before you attacked him?

Yang: I heard him shout "Hey blondie! It's not over, till I say it's over!" Then he was running at me. That was when I punched his leg to try and stop him.

Rocket: You are absolutely sure that's what you heard?

Yang: Yes! Why can't people just believe me?!

Rocket: Don't worry, I believe you. I have a theory…

Ruby: What is it?

Rocket: I believe there might have been foul play at work here. Now, I can't prove anything right now, but I was talking with team CFVY after their fight and heard that Coco swore she saw Yatsuhashi in the woods before she was knocked out. But, as you know, he never made it out of the geysers.

Ruby: So? There is a thing called battle madness. It is rare, but not unheard of…

Rocket: No, I don't think it was battle madness in either case. I think both of you were hallucinating.

Ruby: Isn't that the same thing…?

Rocket: No. Battle madness is caused by your adrenaline rush fogging your rational thinking. Yang could still think very rationally since she was able to think to punch him in the leg. If it had been battle madness, she would have just lashed out at him in general, not just one punch. Hallucinations, meanwhile, are the result of a chemical or other outside source. I think it is very possible that either Mercury's semblance or some other third party's technology caused Yang to hallucinate that Mercury was attacking her.

Weiss: Wait, why would Mercury get involved like that? He was the one hurt, after all.

Rocket: The main reason I suspect Mercury, is because he was a fighter in both fights, but that isn't solid enough evidence. This whole thing is a mess… I can't link any possible motives to anyone. Now, there will probably be 2 people left to fight. Pyrrha and Penny.

Blake: What about you?

Rocket: They asked me to step down, even before this whole incident. That way, they would have an even number, instead of an odd number and a weird system.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Ruby: Come in!

Ironwood stepped in.

Ironwood: I wanted to come and see how you all are doing. That was a pretty big event after all.

Yang: As good as I can after I get in trouble for defending myself.

Ironwood: That's what I came here to tell you all about. Yang has been banned from the tournament.

Yang: But he attacked me-

Ironwood: We have seen your story, and we believe you were suffering from battle madness. That gets you out of any sort of legal trouble, but you just attacked a person on live television. If we let you back in, there would be trouble from the audiences. I hope you can understand.

Yang: Yes sir…

As if Yang's mood could have gotten worse, it just did. She normally was very happy, but instead, she seemed slower. Well, it didn't matter as much anymore, but Penny and Pyrrha were about to enter the last fight of the tournament tomorrow.

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POV: Omniscient

Pyrrha was sitting outside the dining hall, getting some fresh air. Everyone was so stressful all of a sudden. Out of nowhere, her next match would be the championship match, where she had to represent all of Beacon. At the exact same time, she had been given an offer; help other people and risk your own personality and soul, or save yourself and forfeit great power to an enemy she didn't even know existed until now. As she thought about the poor girl in the test tube under the school, a blurof pink suddenly jutted into her vision. It was cotton candy.

Jaune: Hey, Pyrrha. It might not be a normal pre-fight snack, but it'll still help.

Pyrrha: Oh, right. Um... Thank you, Jaune.

She took the cotton candy from his hand, as he sat down next to her.

Jaune: Y'know, you were the first person in my life to ever believe in me. Even with my parents... When I told them I would be going to Beacon, they laughed at first. Then, when they realized I was serious, they immediately told me not to worry if I had to be sent home.

Pyrrha: I- I'm sure they didn't mean-

She was cut off as she gasped. Jaune had slightly moved his hand so it was now on top of hers. She didn't even notice that she had dropped the cotton candy.

Jaune: I guess what I'm trying to say is... You've always been there for me. And now... I can tell there's something on your mind, so... um... What can I do to help?

Pyrrha smiled, and scooted over slightly, now right next to Jaune. He immediately tensed as she rester her head on his shoulder.

Pyrrha: ...You're already doing plenty.

The moments stretched out between the two in beautiful silence. Pyrrha closed her eyes to take in wonderful tranquility. These were the moments she had been waiting for her whole life. She had been waiting for a time when she could just enjoy the peace in silence with someone who saw her for her. But then... What would happen to these moments if she took the deal? What would happen if she didn't take the deal.

Pyrrha: Um... Jaune?

Jaune: Yeah?

Pyrrha: Do you believe in destiny?

Jaune: I... I dunno. I guess it all depends on how you view it.

Pyrrha: When I think of destiny, I don't really think of a predetermined fate you can't escape. But rather, I see it as some sort of final goal in our lives. Something everything eventually points towards.

Jaune: Um... yeah. I guess I can see it like that.

Pyrrha: Well... What would you do if something came along that you never expected. Something that could stand in the way of your destiny.

Jaune: Like wh-

Pyrrha: Or what if you had the ability to fulfill your destiny in an instant, but it would cost you everything you were?!

Jaune: Pyrrha, you're not making any sense.

Suddenly, Pyrrha stood up and took a couple of steps away from Jaune

Pyrrha: None of it makes sense! Nothing is how it was meant to be!

Jaune stood up too.

Jaune: P-Please, I'm just trying to understand what's wrong.

Pyrrha: ...I've always felt that I was destined to become a huntress; to protect the world. And it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right. But now... I don't know if I can do it.

Jaune: Of course you can do it. The Pyrrha Nikos I know would never run away from a challenge. And if you believe it's really your destiny to save the world, then I believe you can do it.


	45. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

POV: Rocket

If we thought the turnout for the last match was big, this one was bigger. The stadium was packed to the point where every single seat was filled. Because of that, Ruby and I had to stand near the entrance. According to live video statistic, it is also the most viewed game out of all the matches. The match hadn't quite started yet, but it was going to soon. I was scanning the crowd for threats, when I noticed a girl with green hair and red eyes sitting on the front row.

Rocket: Hey Ruby… Remember my theory?

Ruby: Yah, what about it?

Rocket: Look at the front row, middle of the section.

Ruby: Emerald?! But she went back to Mistral to tell Mercury's family the bad news!

Rocket: If what I'm thinking is right, there might not have been any bad news to tell. Come on, we have to warn the teachers! Something bad is coming!

Ruby: How will we get to them? The hallways are blocked…

Rocket: The maintenance tunnel!

Ruby: But we aren't supposed to go in thei-

I quickly grabbed her arm, and dragged her into the maintenance tunnel. We both started running.

Ruby: Ok, do you know where to turn?

Rocket: I have the map memorized.

Ruby: Ok, but- WOAH!

We both crashed to a halt, as the door we were about to go through opened. Mercury stepped out.

Ruby: Mercury! But, you were… How did you... What's going on?

Mercury looked up at the TV screen, where it showed the fight about to start.

Mercury: Metal versus magnetism… That might not go so well.

Ruby: What are you trying to do with all this?! How aren't you hurt?

Rocket: His legs… they're not real. They're robotic.

Mercury: How did you-

Rocket: That would be the only explanation for you being up right now. You were never hurt, just acting.

Ruby: But wouldn't the medics have discovered his leg wasn't actually broken?

Rocket: Not if the medics never arrived. They would've had to pull quite a few springs, but it's possible they replaced some of the paramedics with their own people. That's why Emerald is here, and not 'breaking the news to Mercury's family'. It's not Mercury causing the hallucinations, it's her. She made Yang see you attacking her, getting her to "break your leg" when in reality, it's just an easily repairable prosthetic. She gets banned from the tournament, and this match becomes the championship. It gets way more publicity, meaning if something were to go wrong, it would be everywhere. And I'm guessing something WILL go wrong...

Mercury: Smart. Too bad you won't be able to tell anyone about anything.

I knew that if we tried to get past him, we would get attacked. I just had to-

Ruby: Go!

Ruby forgot to communicate the plan. We both tried to go past him on either side. He managed to shoot both of us. Ruby was knocked out. I landed on my feet.

Rocket: Looks like it's just me and you now.

Mercury: Yep. So, what are you going to do?

Rocket: Trust me, I have no idea.

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POV: Omniscient

Pyrrha had been struggling. 8 swords was too many to deal with. Penny jumped back, giving Pyrrha a small break. Suddenly, Penny held her swords above her head. They duplicated. 10 times. Penny now had a massive storm of swords above her head. There was no way Pyrrha could block them all! Penny began the downward stroke that would end Pyrrha. Pyrrha knew she couldn't lose here. Not after all that, she had done to get here. She quickly made a plan and put it into use. She charged up for a second, and, just before the swords would have hit, she released a massive pulse of magnetic energy. But, instead of the energy being absorbed by the millions of swords like she expected, it was all put into the 8 swords that actually existed. Those 8 swords flew backward, and the rest of the swords disappeared. Pyrrha looked up and was shocked. The swords were controlled by strings. When Pyrrha had used the pulse, the strings had tangled around Penny. The swords were already moving so fast, that Pyrrha couldn't stop them. Finally, the wires cut through, splitting Penny into 4 pieces. There was a mechanical whirring as the power left Penny's unmoving head.

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POV: Rocket

I had been fighting Mercury for at least 5 minutes. Not having a scythe doesn't help in this scenario... I had to get out, we had to warn the audience! I quickly grabbed Ruby and stopped time. I walked over right next to the door, but then my aura gave out. Dragging others through time takes way more effort. While I recovered, I heard the lights flicker for a second, before the crowd went silent.

Ruby: Whaaa…

Rocket: Finally, you're awake. We aren't getting around Mercury, so we'll have to find another way.

Mercury: Hey! I wasn't done with you!

Rocket: Outside, QUICK

Ruby and I ran outside. Ruby took in the surroundings. The crowd was silent. She looked back at me. I was staring wide-eyed at the stage. She looked over and fell on her knees.

Ruby: Penny…

I heard the maintenance door close behind us. A voice came over the intercom, but my mind was too numb to notice. Penny, just like that, was dead. She had been completely broken, her legs and arms ripped off. And her head… dear god her head. It was on the ground at least 5 feet away from the rest of her body, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. The automatic voice of the defense system came on a few seconds after the other voices stopped. There was a thundering screech from the ceiling of the arena.

Com: Level 6 Grimm attack incoming. Evacuation is suggested.


	46. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

POV: Rocket

Level 6? I had only ever heard of a level 3…

Jaune: Pyrrha, come on!

Pyrrha had just been standing there in the middle of the stage with a blank look. A Nevermore was right above her, trying to break in. the ceiling was beginning to crack.

Jaune: Pyrrha! That thing is going to break through!

I looked at Ruby, but she wasn't there anymore. Jaune began to get onto the stage.

Jaune: Pyrr-

Then it broke. The grimm landed right in front of Pyrrha, and she was sent backwards. Her weapons had gone further, and her brain wasn't working correctly. I got out my scroll-

Ruby: Get AWAY from her!

Ruby had somehow gotten onto the stage without me noticing. She didn't have her crescent rose, but she did have one of Penny's swords. The Nevermore began charging.

 _Thunk_

My locker went down through the Nevermore's wing. 30 others soon followed. When Ruby looked up, there was an army of students getting out their weapons.

Pyrrha: Ruby, I'm… I'm so, so sorry…

Ruby; It's not your fault…

Jaune: She's right. You couldn't have seen those wires. You couldn't have known.

Pyrrha: Except I SHOULD have seen them!

Rocket: Actually, you were tricked into not seeing them. Someone is causing people to hallucinate. That's why Yang thought Mercury was attacking her. That's why Coco saw Yatsuhashi in the forest. That's why you didn't see the wires.

Pyrrha: But why-

Just then, the Nevermore shuddered. It was still alive! It started to raise it's head. Nora immediately fixed that, by slamming it's head back down. Then, Sage and Yatsuhashi jumped over the Nevermore, spinning their blades down to cut it's head off. The Nevermore slowly disappeared. Griffin grimm griffons entered the arena, and the students prepared their weapons and the grimm flew around us.

Sun: What now?

Ruby: Can I use your scroll?

Sun quickly threw her his scroll. She pushed 2 buttons, and her locker immediately landed a few yards in front of her. How she did it, I have no idea. She went to go retrieve the Crescent Rose, when a griffon landed on the locker! She was ready to fight it with her bare hands, when suddenly, a loud gun went off, killing the griffon in one shot. When we turned around, Port and Oobleck were standing near the exit, each with their weapons. Port's was smoking.

Port: I would prefer it if you all would leave, thank you very much.

Ruby: But we can fi-

Oobleck: Ms. Rose. I can assure you that this day will go down in Remnant's history. I would prefer if my students lived to tell about it.

Ruby looked like she was about to protest again, so I stepped in.

Rocket: We can take an airship down to the city. Come on!

And with that, Ruby grabbed her scythe and we all ran towards the airship ports.

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POV: Omniscient

Professor Port and professor Oobleck were standing back to back in the middle of a swarm of griffons.

Port: One final match, ladies and gentlemen, place your bets!

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Weiss and Blake had been eating at the Simple Wok noodle stand when the grimm attacked. They were in the middle of the chaos, hiding behind the counter.

Weiss: How did this happen? Penny…

Suddenly, Blake got a call.

Blake: Hello?

Yang: Hey! Are you guys all right?

Yang had been moping in her room about the ban when the grimm had attacked. She was now running through the hallways of the dorms.

Blake: Yah we're fine.

Yang: Is Ruby with you? She isn't answering her scroll.

Blake: No, she's not…

That stopped Yang in her tracks. Blake heard the silence.

Blake: Look, Yang, she's probably fine. She's our leader, she can handle herself. After all, Rocket was with her!

Yang: Yah. Well, I'm heading to the courtyard. The white fang is releasing grimm into the city around there.

Blake: Wait, the white fang is here?!

Yang: Yah. Oh, I got to go…

Blake heard fighting sounds in the background, before Yang hung up.

Blake: Yang!

Weiss: What do we do now?

Blake stood up, and pushed a button on her scroll.

Blake: I don't know about you, but I'm going to the courtyard, and I'm going to do my job.

The locker landed a few feet away, and automatically opened, revealing the gambol shroud. Weiss said nothing. She just got out her scroll and bushed 1 button.

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Everyone was at the docks, getting on an airship. They could only get so many people off at a time. Ironwood was anxious. The white fang kept dropping grimm off up in the arena. Most of them, his soldiers could take care of. He needed to save his strength for-

 _Clank_

He slowly turned around. Behind him, was an alpha Beowulf. That's what happened to a grimm when it lived for long enough. It changed, became stronger. This grimm's hide was so strong, that it could take a bullet easily. Ironwood didn't even pull out a weapon. He just started walking towards it. The beowulf just looked at him, and began running. Ironwood began walking faster, until he was at a full sprint. The grimm jumped, about to tackle him. Ironwood reacted immediately, putting on a burst of speed that moved him under the grimm. Almost instantly, he had a pistol in his hand. While the grimm was above him, he slid and fired 3 times straight up, hitting it in the weak area around it's stomach. It definitely felt that one. As both of them slid to stop, Ironwood's hand broke the concrete it tried to grip onto. When he looked up, the grimm was about to hit him in the face. He quickly ducked the first swipe, and easily caught the grimm's other arm. Before it could react, he shot the ground underneath it, creating a large explosion that launched the grimm over Ironwood. Ironwood was still holding onto the grimm's arm, though and pulled the arm in just the right way that the grimm's head was right next to his. He quickly looked away, put his gun up under its head, and fired. It was an instant kill. As the dust cleared he saw a group of students run out of one of the tunnels that lead into the arena.

POV: Rocket

We ran up to Ironwood. He was one of the only ones in command at this point.

Ruby: What's going on?!

Ironwood sighed.

Ironwood: The white fang is releasing grimm into the city the defences are failing, and to make matters worse, some... vagabond has seized control of one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. That's why I'm going to take it back.

Jaune: So what should we do?

Ironwood thought for a second.

Ironwood: Well, it seems like you all have 2 choices ahead of you. You can either defend your kingdom and your school, or save yourselves. No one would fault you for running away. Let's move out!

That last command was to the pilot of the ship behind him. After all, he had a mission.

Rocket: I mean… There was really only one valid choice there, given our line of work.

Jaune: Come on, we can take a ship to Beacon!

And with that, we were off again.

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POV: Omniscient

The "vagabond" that Ironwood was talking about happened to be one Roman Torchwick and one Neo Politan. Roman was exploring his new property, when he saw a control panel.

Roman: Ooh! Flashing buttons! I wonder what they do… Let's try… This one!

He pushed a small button on the side. He heard an explosion somewhere behind him.

Roman: That one's fun. Now, let's try.. This one.

He pressed a big red button. Back in the cargo area, the back just opened, releasing more soldiers. Roman didn't hear anything.

Roman: Ok, nothing.

Neo walked up, and handed him a scroll with a familiar symbol on the screen.

Roman: Oh, but this one… this one is going to be fun.

He plugged in the scroll into a machine. Data downloaded for a second, but then all the screens in the room, which had been blue, turned red. He now had access to every soldier in the system that wasn't human.

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Glynda and Ozpin were on the ground, killing grimm, when suddenly, the soldiers they were fighting with, began to glow red instead of blue. That's when they turned around, and began to fire at humans. The fight was now against not grimm, but machine.

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Blake and Weiss were running over to a defensive line the courtyard. They came up behind it, while the soldiers were killing another grimm. Suddenly, the soldiers stopped firing. In unison, they all turned around, glowing red. They quickly surrounded Blake and Weiss, who were now standing back to back.

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Ironwood was sitting the plane, getting ready to arrive at the command ship. Then, he heard the soldiers behind him powering up. That was weird. They shouldn't be powering up until-

 _Ba-ba-bang!_

The soldiers had fired. The engine had exploded. The airship was going down.

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POV: Rocket

I saw the ship go down. That was a nasty explosion. What caused it, I have no idea. All I know is, I think Ruby has an idea. I figure that part out when she suddenly ran to the back, and jumped off!

Sun: Where are you going?!

I went to follow her.

Sun: Oh, not you too…

Rocket: Don't worry, I'm just going to make sure she doesn't kill herself with a bad idea-

I heard something behind me. I stopped time. I turned around.

Rocket: So that is what Ruby was doing.

Ruby was riding a locker behind me. I quickly analyzed the locker's thrusters, trajectory, and target, and discovered it would miss. I quickly got onto the locker, displacing my weight so that it wouldn't miss. Restarted time.

Ruby: Wah! Where did you come from?!

Rocket: Um… magic.

Ruby: Hey, that's my lin-

We hit the runway of the command ship. I'm pretty sure that's not how it was intended to be used, but whatever.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Roman was standing at the control panel, when he heard a thud from outside. He sighed.

Roman: Can you go see what that was?

Neo nodded and walked out.

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POV: Rocket

Ruby and I had just gotten off the locker, and were discussing our plans.

Ruby: So, what are we going to do now?

Rocket: Well, first we have to find whoever Ironwood was talking about, and then we have to figure out how they took over. Finally, we have to reverse whatever they used, and leave.

Ruby: So, I repeat, what are we going to do no-

 _Click_

I turned around, and-

 _Flash_

When my eyes recovered Neo was standing there, which a scroll in hand, presumably what she had used as a flashbang just now.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

All Roman got was a picture of Rocket and Ruby, and a sentence. "Guess Who".

Roman: Oh, COME ON!

He grabbed his cane, and ran towards the exit.


	47. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

POV: Omniscient

Weiss and Blake were fighting furiously, as they had to fight both soldiers and Grimm at the same time. Weiss destroyed around 30 soldiers in a single dash but left herself open to the white fang members that were surrounding her. Blake took care of that problem quickly. Then, they noticed 2 things. First was an Atlesian Paladin wrecking a building. Next, was an Alpha and some white fang members near the cafeteria. Weiss and Blake just nodded to each other.

Weiss: Stay safe.

They both dashed off to the different fights. Weiss went to fight the Atlesian paladin, while Blake went after the Alpha.

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Rocket and Ruby were facing off against Neo. Ruby went on the attack, and Rocket followed. Neo easily sidestepped Ruby's attack, and she finished off by kicking Rocket in the face. The force of the kick lapsed his consciousness and sent him flying over the side of the ship.

Ruby: Rocket!

She knew he had no way to catch himself. He was gone. She then turned to face the true enemy. Roman.

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All the students that had been on the airship were fighting in the courtyard. Grimm were everywhere, and they needed to be taken out. Team JNPR was pretty spread out, but they were still near each other. Then, Pyrrha saw Ozpin. He was just standing in the doorway to his tower. Pyrrha lowered her weapons and started walking towards him.

Jaune: Pyrrha! Where are you going?

She ignored him. She knew what Ozpin wanted her to do.

Jaune: Guys, just stay together and keep fighting. I'm going to figure out where Pyrrha's going.

Nora and Ren just nodded. Jaune ran after Ozpin and Pyrrha.

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Blake chased after the Alpha, but eventually, it jumped over the cafeteria, and she couldn't follow it. She was about to go back for Weiss but then heard a sword being sheathed behind her. She turned around. In the building behind her was a man with red hair, a black jacket, and a red sword. His name was Adam Taurus.

Adam: Hello, my darling.

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Back in courtyard, Weiss arrived. When she got there, a massive group of students were fighting the Paladin, and losing. Ren stumbled for a second, before recovering, just time to see the paladin about to punch him.

Nora: Ren!

Nora quickly ran forward and pushed Ren out of the way. Instead of Ren getting annihilated, Nora was launched across the courtyard. Ren soon recovered and promptly got punched seconds later. Weiss joined the attack but got a kick to the face. She was about to get crushed by the Paladin's fist when Yatsuhashi blocked it.

Yatsuhashi: Move!

Weiss snapped back to her senses, rolled to her feet, and ran. Yatsuhashi was overpowered quickly and sent into the wall. Coco was still standing and firing a constant stream of bullets into the Paladin's face. Neptune soon joined her. Others noticed what they were doing, and soon they had a group of around 10 students firing a constant barrage into the Paladin's face.

Coco: Well, I guess now, a better time than any. Velvet!

Velvet: Really?

Coco: Just, make it count.

Velvet walked forward. Everyone back in the crowd stopped firing since they now had a very real chance of hitting Velvet.

Weiss: What is she doing? She going to get killed!

Coco: Just… watch.

Velvet pushed 1 button on her camera. The Paladin seemed to notice her. It's arm began charging up. Right before it fired, Velvet jumped into the air. She suddenly had a scythe that looked oddly like the Crescent Rose, except Velvet's scythe, looked more like a hologram. Velvet came down behind the Paladin, slicing it 3 times. Her scythe disappeared and was immediately replaced by Myrtenaster. The paladin turned around and tried to punch her. She quickly raised the sword above her head, and the Paladin's blow was deflected by a shield of sorts. She took a step back and then rocketed forwards. She got three jabs off before the Paladin retargeted her. By the time it did that, Velvet already had the Ember Celica out, and she immediately punched it in the face. The Paladin recoiled. Velvet landed a decent distance away. She immediately started firing onto the robot. It recovered, but she had already switched again. Now she had the Gambol Shroud. She hooked the ribbon onto its legs, and then immediately started going around the robot, wrapping it in ribbon. Finally, she pulled it tight. The robot almost fell over, but managed to keep it's footing. The Gambol Shroud case hit it in the face and stuck. It quickly disappeared though, as Velvet had formed Coco's Minigun. The Paladin was now getting peppered with bullets. Somehow still working, the Paladin charged at her. She jumped over it, forming Penny's swords. When she landed, she quickly cut through the mech's legs, finally knocking it over. It was still functional though, and so Velvet had to finish it. She quickly went some distance away, before charging an ion beam. The Paladin started to pick up it's gun, but got completely disintegrated before it got a chance to fire. Velvet let the weapon disappear, and then heard stomping behind her. She turned around and got a fist to the face. She was launched 20 feet across the courtyard before sliding to stop, unconscious.

Coco: Velvet!

Coco started firing on the next Paladin. This time, they didn't have Velvet. Even though Coco was shooting it, the mech started to advance on Velvet. Weiss realized how Velvet would die if she didn't do something. She quickly made glyphs all around the courtyard, and sprinted off, while she was running, she realized she couldn't really do anything to protect Velvet, but she didn't care. While that realization dawned on her, a glyph appeared in the air behind her. She didn't notice. She just stopped in front of Velvet, who was just starting to wake up and held her sword up as a guard. She knew that her sword wouldn't be able to block it. Immediately, she closed her eyes and hoped. The fist never came. She looked up and saw that there was a glowing white sword in front of her. She finally noticed the summoning glyph behind her. An arm was poking out of the glyph. The arm quickly moved, cutting the Paladin into 3 or 4 different pieces. She heard more stomping. A third paladin turned the corner. Weiss was too tired to protect herself. The glyph had disappeared. Everyone else was too far away to help her. She was a sitting duck.


	48. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

POV: Omniscient

Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ozpin got off the elevator. They were now deep underground.

Jaune: Woah… where are we?

They were in a large green room, with a machine at the back. The machine had tubes going out from one pod to another. One pod was empty. The other pod had a girl in it. She was badly scarred.

Pyrrha: It's... a vault of sorts.

Jaune: Wait, you know about this?

Ozpin: No time for talking.

He opened the empty pod.

Ozpin: Pyrrha, it is time for you to make a decision.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Weiss had looked Death in the face before and survived. She knew she wouldn't this time. The Paladin was only a couple of meters away now. She closed her eyes.

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POV: Rocket

I had seen the Paladin come around the corner I had been falling for 2 minutes, and was moving at approximately 180 MPH. That was when I hit the Paladin, shattering it on impact. That same impact also shattered my aura. Weiss slowly opened her eyes.

Weiss: Hu- OH MY GOSH!

Rocket: Ow…

Weiss: Where did you come from?!

Rocket: Long story short, I got kicked off the generals command ship. It flies at approximately 46250 feet.

Weiss: Next, HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!

Rocket: I apparently got kicked out at just the right time, so that I landed just as that robot was about to attack. I just had to aim in its general direction.

Weiss: Wait, where's Ruby? Weren't you with her?

Rocket: I got kicked off, remember? Now I have to figure out how to get back up there...

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Ruby was fighting, well, trying to fight Neo. Neo was just dodging a lot. Finally, Neo just disappeared, and Roman fired from behind where Neo was. Ruby got hit in the face, and rolled down the runway. When she rolled to a stop, she was dazed. Ruby looked up. Roman had walked up next to her.

Roman: Little red, little red… Where's your little friend now? I can tell you one thing, not here!

Ruby: What are you doing?! Without these ships, the grimm will destroy everything!

Roman: That's the plan!

He aimed his cane at her. She rolled out of the way, and right into Neo. She got hit a few time, before getting kicked and stumbling closer to the edge of the ship. She noticed that there was a swarm of griffons flying all around the ship. She spun back around.

Ruby: But why?! What do you get out of it?

Roman: You're asking all the wrong questions, Red! It's not about what I have to gain, it that I can't afford to lose!

Ruby charged. Roman ducked, and Neo jumped over him, kicking Ruby in the face. When Ruby turned back around, Neo was already coming back at her. Neo immediately went for an overhead strike, which Ruby blocked. What she forgot about, though, was the bottom of the umbrella, and the hook. Neo used the hook to rip the Crescent Rose out of Ruby's hands and sent it spinning, and eventually embedding itself right next to the edge of the ship. Ruby was also sent spinning, except upwards. Neo jumped and kicked, hitting Ruby in the middle of the stomach. She was sent flying right into one of Roman's flares, and back into Neo, who caught her, and threw her almost over the edge. Luckily for Ruby, the Crescent Rose was also at the edge of the ship, and she caught it. Now, she was hanging 50000 feet over the ground.

Roman: I may be a gambling man, but even I know that there are some bets you just don't take.

Neo began walking forward. Her umbrella now had a spike jutting out of the end. She reached over the edge, and put the spike against Ruby's throat.

Roman: Like it or not, the people who hired me are going to change the world. You can't stop 'em. Heck, not even I could stop them now!

While Roman was busy monologuing, Ruby was trying to think. Then, she saw a button on Neo's umbrella.

Roman: You know the old saying. If you can't beat 'em…

Ruby quickly pulled herself upwards, and pushed the button on Neo's umbrella, opening it. It caught on the wind, pulling Neo off.

Roman: Neo!

Ruby was now back on the airship, but without her scythe.

Ruby: I don't care what you say. We will stop them, and I will stop you. BET ON THAT!

She used her speed to dodge back and forth, basically coming at him from every direction at once. He quickly fired in response, but instead of letting it go, he caught the flare with the other end of his cane, and threw it in an arch, right where Ruby dodged to next. He quickly followed up with an uppercut, with left her stomach exposed. He fired a point blank shot launching her across the deck. She rolled to a stop, curled up into a defensive ball. Roman began hitting her repeatedly with the round end of his cane.

Roman: You've got spirit Red, but this is the real world. The real world is cold! The real world doesn't care about spirit!

After he said that, Ruby quickly kicked him in the shins, and had a chance to get back up.

Roman: You want to be a hero? Then play the part go DIE like all the other huntsmen in history!

He did one last quick swing, which knocked Ruby back.

Roman: And as for me, I'll do what I do best. Lie. Cheat. Steal, and surviv-

Suddenly a locker flew into him, and a dark silhouette jumped off the locker, just before impact. The locker ended up flying into the control room and exploding


	49. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

POV: Omniscient

Cinder, Mercury and Emerald were stand on top of a building, watching the mayhem they helped create.

Cinder: So much death… It's… Glorious. Focus on the knights.

Mercury: Don't worry, I'm getting all of it.

Emerald: It's almost sad… almost.

Cinder: Keep the broadcast going. You don't want to miss what happens next.

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All around the school, people who were fighting felt the ground shake beneath their feet. Over in mountain Glenn, the mountain cracked. After a few more shakes, pieces of the mountain began falling off, revealing a black, scaly core. After 2 more shakes, all was still. Then, a massive Grimm that resembled a dragon burst out of Mountain Glenn. It went into the air and began flying towards the school, straight at Beacon Tower.

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Blake was once more pushed back, almost stumbling to her knees.

Adam: This could have been our day!

Blake: I never wanted this! I wanted equality!

Adam: What you want is IMPOSSIBLE!

His sentence was punctuated with a slap, knocking Blake down again. This time, her sword was sent spinning out of her hands.

Adam: You know, I think I understand how you feel, Blake. Because all I wanted was you. But now, as I deliver the justice against humanity that it so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you hold dear...

?: Blaaaaaaake! Where are you?!

Adam looked up, to see Yang outside. He looked back down, and saw a terrified look on Blake's face. He knew she wasn't scared about what would happen to her. She never was. She was scared for that girl with the blonde hair.

Adam: ...starting with her.

Yang turned to the building next to her, as she heard a scream of pain, Blake's scream of pain. What she saw, was a strange man with a white fang mask and a glowing red sword, standing over Blake. Blood was dripping from his blade.

Yang: Get AWAY FROM HER!

Yang, without hesitation, jumped forward.

Blake: No…

Of course, no one could hear her over Yang's war cry. Then, in the blink of an eye, Yang fell to the ground, unconscious. Her arm was gone. Adam resheathed his blade, and then walked towards the now-unconscious Yang. He was ready to deal the finishing blow, when he was stopped by Blake. She kneeled over her injured friend, making it so that to kill Yang, he would first have to kill Blake.

Adam: Why must you hurt me like this, my love?

And then, in an instant, his sword darted out of its sheath. Blake's head was removed from her body. The clone faded almost instantly. Blake had disappeared with Yang.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

I stood up, and spit out some blood.

Ruby: Rocket! How did you survive?!

Rocket: Aura is an amazing thing, even when hitting the ground at 180 MPH.

I turned around.

Rocket: We have to get to ground. The ship will go down any seco-

The ship shuddered, and started losing altitude. Ruby nodded, and was about to grab her scythe and jump off.

Rocket: Wait! I… don't have a way down, and I'm not free falling again. Yes, my aura is coming back, but I definitely don't have enough to jump off 45000 feet and survive again.

Ruby: Then hold on.

She then dragged me off the ship and pulled me onto her scythe. She started firing, which slowed our fall enough to at least survive.

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POV: Omniscient

In a different area of the city, Glynda and Qrow were fighting off grimm. They had a small time of respite when they noticed Cardin battling one grimm. He finally defeated it. He seemed only then notice robots surrounding him. He lifted his hands in surrender, but the robots didn't care. Suddenly, he heard a gun go off behind him, waited for the excruciating pain of a bullet wound. It didn't come. When he opened his eyes, all of the robots were destroyed. In the cloud of dust, stood Ironwood, except only kind of. Some of his skin had been torn away, leaving a metal cyborg body. The skin was still on his head and one of his arms. Ironwood walked over to Glynda and Qrow, leaving Cardin stunned.

Ironwood: Ok, we need to-

Qrow just looked angrily at him and changed his sword into scythe form.

Ironwood: Qrow! I didn't cause this!

Qrow at already started running at him. The general just got his gun ready, trying to figure out how he would stop Qrow. But then, Qrow jumped, while still keeping his vision locked straight forward, now over Ironwood's head. Ironwood turned around and found out that a griffon was about to attack him. Qrow quickly cut the griffon in half, landing behind Ironwood.

Qrow: I know you didn't do this, Jimmy. The question, is what are you going to do about it?

Ironwood: First, we need to establish a perimeter. I'll leave that to you, Glynda. Meanwhile, Qrow, I want you to find people who need to be rescued.

Qrow: What will you be doing?

Ironwood: I still need to get to my ship…

There was a single explosion behind him. He turned around to see his ship crashing to the ground. Everything went silent. Then his ship completely exploded.

Qrow: Well, it won't be much of a walk.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We limped to the new evac-point. Weiss was there when we got there.

Weiss: You guys are ok! I saw the ship go down, and I didn't know where you two went. What happened up there?

Ruby: That's a long story. Is everything ok down here?

Weiss: Um…

I looked behind Weiss, and almost threw up.

Ruby: Weiss, what's wro-

She also saw Yang and Blake. Blake had a massive wound in her stomach, while Yang… well… her arm was kind of missing.

Ruby: ...What happened?

Sun suddenly walked up behind us.

Sun: We have a ship ready to get all of you of here. As soon as we make it to a safe zone, we can treat Yang and Blake.

Nora: But what about Jaune and Pyrrha?

Ren: They're still missing!

Sun: That huge Grimm is still circling the tower. Even the white fang are pulling out!

Ren: We… aren't… leaving!

He tried to stand up but fell back down after pain flared up in his side. Ruby and I glanced at each other.

Ruby: I'll find them, and bring them back.

Rocket: No.

She looked up at me.

Rocket: You won't do it alone. Now that Blake and Yang are safe and protected, more of us can go looking for them.

Weiss: Then I might as well go too. You two might need someone with any sort of rational thinking.

As we walked away, Sun just had to call after us.

Sun: You'd better be back!


	50. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

POV: Omniscient

Pyrrha made her decision. She got into the pod, and Ozpin closed it over her.

Ozpin: Are you ready?

Pyrrha nodded.

Ozpin: I… need to hear you say it.

It was a bit muffled, but the "Yes" was still audible.

Ozpin: Ok.

He started pressing buttons.

Jaune: What are you doing? What is all of this?

Ozpin sighed.

Ozpin: I'll explain it later. If you want to help, stand guard.

Jaune nodded and stood facing down the hallway, towards the elevator. A couple of seconds went by. Ozpin heard an explosion above him. He sped up his typing. The coding hadn't quite been finished, and he was finishing it.

Ozpin: Done. I'll activate it now.

He pushed one last button, and then stood back to make sure it everything went according to plan. An orange glow flowed through the wire, from Amber's pod to Pyrrha's. Pyrrha began to scream in agony, as a different aura was forced into hers.

Ozpin: I'm… sorry, Ms. Nikos

Jaune: What are you doing to her?!

Ozpin just stood there, with a grim look on his face.

Jaune: You have to stop it, it's going to-

Suddenly, an arrow flew into Amber's pod, straight through her heart. Her eyes opened wide, before she finally let go of her life. A ball of fire floated out of her, and went past Jaune and Ozpin, and to a woman standing behind them. Her name was Cinder Fall. Jaune charged at her.

Ozpin: Jaune! Don't-

Cinder easily launched him backward. Pyrrha began to get desperate to break out of her pod. She used her semblance to launch the lid of the pod off, and straight at Cinder. Cinder easily deflected it, and Pyrrha got her weapons out, and ready to fight. She was about to also charge at Cinder, when Ozpin stopped her.

Ozpin: Don't bother. Take Jaune, and get out of here! Get Glynda… Ironwood... Qrow… Anybody! The tower cannot fall.

Pyrrha followed his instructions and helped Jaune up. Then, they both ran around Cinder. She watched them go, before turning back to Ozpin.

Cinder: She was right. Such arrogance…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jaune and Pyrrha stumbled out of the tower and fell to the ground right outside. Well, at least Jaune did. Pyrrha was still fine, just in shock from all the recent events.

Jaune: *Huff* I.. think I have… *Puff* … Glynda's number somewhere…

He pulled out his scroll. While he was looking through his contacts, Pyrrha was watching the tower. She was met with an orange glow that moved up the tower. It had to have been Cinder. Jaune looked up. They both knew that Ozpin would never have let her go past.

Jaune: But… Ozpin…

There was a moment of stunned silence.

Pyrrha: There's no time. Get to Vale, and get help.

Jaune: What are you going to do?

Pyrrha just looked at the tower.

Jaune: No, Pyrrha... you can't! You saw how powerful she was! I- I won't let you-

Pyrrha just stepped forward, and kissed him. She stepped back, put one hand on his chestplate, and pushed. He was sent flying into a locker, which closed over him.

Jaune: Pyrrha! Don't do this, please!

She just walked up and punched in a few coordinates.

Pyrrha: I'm sorry.

Then, the locker went blasting off. Pyrrha knew what she had to do, and didn't want the regret Jaune would bring while doing it. She ran back to the tower, and got in the elevator, only to find that Cinder had blasted a hole in it on her way up. Pyrrha quickly came up with a solution, though. She charged up her magnetic powers for a second and used it to launch the elevator straight upwards, with her still in it.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

We were walking over to the tower, which according to Ren and Nora, is the last place they were seen. My scroll rang.

Rocket: Hey it's Jaune!

I answered immediately.

Rocket: Jaune, where are you?

Jaune: Rocket! You have to help her…

Rocket: Who?

Jaune: Pyrrha! She went after that woman, at the top of the tower. She doesn't stand a chance!

Rocket: Ok. Are you safe?

Jaune: Don't mind me, I'm fine. You have to save Pyrrha!

Weiss: Ok, we will. Where are you?

Jaune seemed to just break down. We heard one last cry of anguish before his scroll broke off.

Weiss: Jaune? Jaune!

Rocket: He's gone. He said he was safe, but we should hurry. Pyrrha will need us as fast as possible.

Ruby: What's that grimm doing?

The grimm she was talking about, appeared to be a dragon. It was dripping this black goo, somehow creating grimm. It was about to get a heck of a lot more crowded.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

Cinder was standing at the top of the tower, in Ozpin's offices. The dragon grimm a landed on the tower, and was peeking through the tower window. It roared.

Cinder: Shhh… This is your home now.

Suddenly she heard the elevator ding behind her. She turned around, surprised. The doors slammed open, and Pyrrha's sword flew out. Cinder just stepped to the side, but she couldn't simply dodge Pyrrha, as she came out next, shield first, and crashed into Cinder. Cinder pushed her back, sending the shield flying. Pyrrha quickly rearmed herself before Cinder could react, and got ready to defend herself. Time seemed to slow in Pyrrha's mind as she tensed her muscles, ready now for anything Cinder might do. Cinder slashed with fire, with Pyrrha easily jumping out of the way, and came face to face with a beam of fire, which she rolled under. Cinder fired another beam, which Pyrrha took on her shield. She jumped forward, through the beam, and slashed underhand and Cinder, while still midair. Cinder easily caught her sword, and put her other hand to Pyrrha's stomach, and fire yet another beam, this time point blank. Pyrrha hit the wall, leaving a crack in solid cement. She got up, just in time to face Cinder, who was using her fire to propel herself towards Pyrrha. Pyrrha waited until Cinder was almost upon her, and then put Cinder in a chokehold, while she was still flying Pyrrha then jumped, and used the wall behind her to flip over Cinder with her neck still in that chokehold. The result was Cinder being judo-thrown across the room, giving Pyrrha some room to work. Pyrrha quickly rearmed herself and closed the distance. They began to fight hand to sword. What Cinder didn't think about, was that Pyrrha could fly, by lifting her own armor off the ground. Pyrrha threw her sword and shield and Cinder as a distraction, before tackling her, into an explosion, courtesy of Cinder. When the smoke cleared, Pyrrha had one arm around Cinder's neck, and was slowly forcing her sword closer. Before she could kill Cinder, though, she noticed the dragon outside. It was flying directly at the tower! While she was watching the dragon, Cinder quickly heated up Pyrrha's sword, causing it to weaken. Right before the dragon hit, Cinder snapped Pyrrha's sword into 3. Not having any resistance on one of her arms, Pyrrha stumbled, giving Cinder a chance to blast her across the room once more. This time, however, they were no longer in a room, more of the top of the tower, in the open air. The dragon had completely destroyed the tower above them! The only evidence left that there used to be a tower above them, was gears scattered around them, from the clock above Ozpin's office. Pyrrha was slumped against the last part of the wall that wasn't destroyed. She saw her shield, laying in front of her. She also saw several large pieces of metal. She began crawling to her shield, when Cinder floated up from the hole in the middle of the tower. Apparently the glass had shattered, and she had hidden there while the dragon did it's worst. Pyrrha quickly used her magnetic powers to launch one of the pieces of metal into Cinder, while also pulling her shield to herself. Ciner launch the piece off, and off the tower. The real final battle was about to begin.

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POV: Rocket

We had seen the tower get destroyed. The dragon had just, flow into it, for seemingly no reason. We were at the base of the tower now, looking for a way up.

Rocket: There has to be a way up… The elevator isn't functional… The stairs are probably destroyed… What will we do…

Ruby: I have an idea! We can use the outside!

Rocket: How?

Ruby: Only one of us can do it this time, since it's a longer run. I'll have to go as the only one who can keep up the speed the entire time.

Rocket: Are you sure about this?

Ruby: Yes. Don't worry! Pyrrha's up there, fighting right now! With our forces combined, that lady won't stand a chance.

Rocket: Just… be careful.

Weiss got the glyphs ready. She was worn out, but she still had quite a bit of aura left somehow.

Weiss: You got this.

And with that, Ruby ran up the side of the tower. I don't know if she would make it in time, but I prayed that she would.

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POV: Omniscient

Pyrrha and Cinder got back to their usual dance, with Cinder firing beams of fire, and Pyrrha either dodging or blocking them. After a particularly bad beam, Pyrrha was swallowed in flames. Cinder smiled, thinking she had won. She floated a bit closer, when suddenly, Pyrrha's shield parted the fire, and flew on a path straight at Cinder. Cinder blocked it easily, but then heard a metallic clank behind her. She turned around, to see all the gears that had previously been laying around the arena floating around her. The flames finally cleared to reveal Pyrrha holding all of them in place. She went on the attack, first launching her shield under Cinder's feet, rotating her to her back, before one gear slammed down vertically, pinning her to the ground. Finally, Pyrrha pushed all of the gears to directly on top of Cinder, crushing her. The was a moment of silence and Pyrrha stood at the top of the tower, victoriou-

 _Bang_

Suddenly all of the gears were sent flying, by and explosion. One of the gears hit Pyrrha, once more launching her into that wall. This time, however, her aura broke. Cinder casually formed her bow, and 1 arrow. Pyrrha ran forward, surprisingly nimbly for someone who had just been beaten to heck, and threw her shield. Cinder fired. The arrow and shield were in collision course. Right before the arrow would have hit the shield, it shattered, keeping its momentum. The shards went around the shield, before reforming on the other side, and hitting Pyrrha in the ankle. Pyrrha screamed in agony, and slowly broke the arrow. Even after removing the arrow, Pyrrha still couldn't get up. Cinder walk over, and lifted Pyrrha's chin so their eyes met.

Cinder: It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours, but take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you couldn't possibly imagine.

Pyrrha leaned back, still on her hands and knees, but now supporting herself.

Pyrrha: Do you… believe… in destiny?

Cinder: Yes.

Cinder slowly stood up. She took two steps back, and formed another arrow. She drew back her bow.

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Ruby topped the tower, just in time to look up, and see the arrow sticking out of Pyrrha's chest. Cinder walked over, and held Pyrrha's crown as she disintegrated. Ruby just watched, in shock as she watched the second death of one of her friends that day.

Ruby: PYRRHA!

A blinding silver light came out of Ruby's eyes in the form of fire. A massive flash filled Cinders vision, and all she felt was pain.

Cinder: WHAT!?

The dragon grimm, which had just gotten to the top of the tower, roared one last time. Ruby blacked out.

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POV: Rocket

Weiss: What as THAT?!

Rocket: That, appeared to be an explosion.

Weiss: So, what are we going to do about it.

Rocket: I'm trying to think…

We had been standing at the base of the tower for what felt like an eternity. We had just seen a silvery explosion.

Rocket: I have an idea! Once I go up, call Qrow. For now, can you make a time dilation glyph?

Weiss: Easily.

She concentrated for a second, then summoned a golden glyph, that looked like a clock. The instant I stepped in it, I felt invigorated.

Rocket: Thanks.

And then I was gone. I stepped further through time frames than I had ever gone before, so time was halted completely. Normally, when I stop time, I just walk places since time is moving so slowly that it doesn't matter anyway. This time, I sprinted.

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POV: Omniscient

Cinder was hurting all over, but she was alive. She was standing, although shakily, at the top of the tower. She saw the little girl that had just done this to her in front of her. She was overcome with rage. That little girl, the one with the silver eyes, had thought she could beat her?! Cinder?! Cinder tried to summon a beam of fire that would kill the little girl, but she couldn't use her power after that burst. She looked around with a crazed look in her eyes and found the broken tip of Pyrrha's sword. She picked it up. She didn't care about the pain from the sword cutting into her hands. All she could think about was revenge. She stood over the unconscious girl that had tried to cross her, and lifted the sharp fragment up.

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POV: Rocket

I ran up the entire tower in, to the outside world, milliseconds. Near the top, I was moving so fast, I had flames moving all around me. I was about to reach the top, when a special power came over me. I suddenly felt rejuvenated. I had the energy to slow my mind down, so I could do this perfectly. I was moving at thousands of MPH, but in my mind, I felt like I was moving at around an inch per second. When I reached the top, I swung myself over, fist out. I felt my aura fade, and the time dilation glyph began to wear off. I kept my speed though, and that's all that mattered. This woman in a red dress was standing over Ruby, who was unconscious. I closed my eyes moments before my fist would make impact. I felt pain like I've never felt before in my right arm, as my vision flashed orange, then white, and finally faded to black.

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POV: Cinder

When I woke up, I was falling. It took me a few seconds to realize that small fact, but once I realized it, it was a quick fix. This attack wasn't a complete failure, but I still felt like one. I flew off, not wanting to face my Queen, but knowing I had to. My powers were weak, but I was able to keep in the air through sheer determination. I would get my revenge.


	51. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

POV: Rocket

I woke up in a house I had never seen before. In the bed next to me, Ruby was still out. I noticed that I had a cast on my right arm. The last thing I remembered was pain. The room was small, with barely enough room for the two beds. There was also a chair with a young blond man sleeping in it. It looked like he was sleeping pretty lightly, so I was silent as I looked around. Ruby wasn't as she woke up.

Ruby: *YAAWWWN*

The man was instantly awake.

?: Ruby! You're awake! Thank goodness.

Ruby: What happened?

?: I was almost hoping to ask you two the same thing. Qrow found you both unconscious at the top of the tower. He got you out there, and brought you here.

Rocket: And where exactly is "here"?

He seemed to notice for the first time that I was awake.

?: Oh, sorry. We didn't know where you lived, so we brought you to our home. Welcome to Patch. I'm Ruby's dad. You can call me Tai.

Ruby: Wait, Yang! Is she ok?

Tai: She… she's going to be ok, it's just going to take some time... You know, for her to get used to things. She's too strong to let something like this stop her. I'm just glad to have my girl's back home.

Rocket: So, what happened with the school while we were out? Were they able to clear out the Grimm?

Tai: Things in Vale are under control. But the school? Things just aren't that simple. That giant Grimm… doesn't appear to be dead. Don't get me wrong, you did a number on it, but it isn't disappearing. It's just kinda... frozen. Now, I know that doesn't sound bad, but it keeps attracting more Grimm to the school.

Ruby was silent for a second. She seemed to be processing what he had said.

Ruby: Wait, I did what?

Tai: Hm?

Ruby: You said I did a number on it. What did you mean?

Rocket: Whatever we did, it appears to have caused a bit of memory loss. I've been trying to sort through what I did, too…

Tai: I… We can talk about it later. Things are just… kind of a mess right now.

Qrow: Things are always a mess, it's just people are starting to notice now. Mind if we have a minute?

Somehow, Qrow had appeared in the room without anyone noticing. The door hadn't even opened.

Tai: What, I can't stay here?

Qrow: Tai, please.

Tai kissed Ruby on the forehead and walked out, scowling at Qrow almost the whole time. Once Tai was out of the room, Qrow pulled up a chair in front of Ruby's bed.

Qrow: So, how are you two feeling?

Ruby: I kind of hurt all over.

Rocket: And… you know… broken arm.

Qrow: More like a shattered arm. Neither of those are surprising after what you two did.

Rocket: How bad was the break?

Qrow: Your arm was broken in 10 different places. It should recover fully, though. They were able to set it while you were asleep.

Ruby: What did we do? Everyone keeps saying that I did something! What are you talking about?!

Qrow sighed. He knew he would have to jog our memory.

Qrow: What's the last thing you remember?

Rocket: Let's start with Ruby since what she remembers would have happened before anything I saw.

Ruby: Let's see… I climbed the tower, and… when I got to the top...

She gasped.

Ruby: Pyrrha! Is she…

Qrow: She was already long gone when we got up there.

Ruby started choking as she finished the story.

Ruby: I got to the top of the tower, and saw Pyrrha… and that woman!

Qrow: We now know her name to be Cinder.

Ruby: Then, my vision went white and I felt a lot of pain, mostly coming from my eyes. That's when I blacked out.

Qrow: Ok. So, what did you see, Rocket?

Rocket: Weiss and I saw a silver explosion at the top of the tower. We decided that I would have to go up. After all, Weiss didn't have an actual way up. She cast a time dilation glyph, and I used my semblance after stepping on it, making time slow down further than I had ever felt it slow down before. When I reached the top, I was covered in fire, but I didn't really feel anything. I saw Cinder standing over Ruby with a piece of Pyrrha's sword, so I used my momentum from running up the tower to punch her in the face. The flames turned silver right before impact.

Ruby: Dangit, now I owe you 3!

Qrow: Why didn't your aura protect you?

Rocket: Around 1 hour earlier I had fallen off a ship cruising at 45000 feet.

Qrow: Oh… Well anyways, do either of you know how you actually were able to damage her?

Ruby: I have no idea if I even did anything, but maybe it was because Rocket punched her at Mach 1 billion?

Qrow: Well, I can tell you one thing. With her power, it should have done nothing. What was the first thing Ozpin said to you when you first met him?

Ruby: Something about…

Qrow: Silver eyes, right? That's an incredibly rare trait.

Ruby: So? It's just an eye color.

Qrow: You're special, Ruby. In the same way that your mother was special. Same with you, Rocket.

Rocket: Wait, but my eyes aren't… silver…

I realized that the grey flecks in my eyes were in fact not gray, but silver.

Rocket: But, how do flecks count as having silver eyes?

Qrow: Basically, when two silver eyes parents have a child, it will always produce a silver-eyed child. If one parent has silver eyes, and the other doesn't, it will produce a silver-eyed child, as long as 1 generation had two silver eyed parent within around 10 generations. If they didn't and that is the 11th generation, then it will produce silver flecks. It has less power than someone with full silver eyes, but it is more controllable. Flecks still count as silver eyes in the above combinations. If someone with flecks has a child with someone without silver eyes, the silver-eyed trait will go away.

Rocket: But why did all of this help us hurt Cinder?

Qrow: Silver-eyed warriors were said to be the best of the best. It's also said that even a look could kill a grim. It's a ridiculous story. But anyway, nobody is quite sure what the full powers of a silver-eyed warrior are. People with the powers Cinder had could be affected by the silver-eyed powers worse than most people.

Ruby: So, what do we do now?

Qrow: Ozpin has gone missing, and it's up to me to pick up where he left off.

Ruby: When do we leave?

Qrow: I'll be going alone. You two still need to recover, and the enemy's trail goes all the way to Mistral. That's a little far for two pipsqueaks like you. Well, I have to go now. I'll see you around.

And with that, he walked out.

Rocket: So, what do we do now?

Ruby: First, we should probably get up and walk around.

Rocket: Yeah, sometimes beds are just too comfortable.

Ruby: Agreed…

We both groaned as we stood up. After walking around the room for a second, my legs finally decided they wanted to be legs again.

Ruby: So, what are you going to do?

Rocket: I have no idea. I don't have a home or parents to return to…

Ruby: You could stay with us!

Rocket: I'll have to work out details with your dad, but I guess that's the best option.

We thought for a second. This was going to be an interesting few weeks, with the Xiao Long's basically adopting me-

Ruby: Yang?

Ruby had walked into the hallway and opened Yang's door while I had been thinking. I quickly followed her. Yang was silent, so Ruby was about to shut the door.

Yang: Ruby.

Ruby: I'm so glad you're ok!

Yang: But… I'm not.

Ruby: At least you're alive. So, what happened to everyone else?

Yang: Weiss' father came for her. He thinks it's too dangerous here for her.

Ruby: And what about Blake?

Yang: And Blake ran! After everything, she just ran away! She stayed for a week, made sure everyone was being taken care of, and then she just ran!

Ruby: There has to be a reaso-

Yang: No there doesn't! Sometimes, bad things just… happen, Ruby.

That took the wind out of Ruby's sails. She was silent for a bit.

Yang: Just… leave me alone. I need to think over everything.

Ruby walked over to the door.

Ruby: I love you.

Yang didn't reply. Ruby simply shut the door and walked back out.

Rocket: Well, that was pleasant.

Ruby said nothing. Her mood seemed more somber than usual. I went ahead and left to the kitchen, and worked everything out with Tai. I had 3 months until I got my cast off, and even then I had a couple of weeks until I would be back up to my full potential. Until then I worked on my left arm since I had significantly less coordination with that arm than I did with my right arm. No matter what, these next few months were bound to be interesting.


	52. Epilogue

Epilogue

POV: Rocket

It was the middle of winter, and I was finally fully recovered. I picked up my backpack and walked outside. I was met by a group of familiar faces.

Ruby: You ready?

Rocket: Mistral's a long way…

Ren: The road will be hard.

Jaune: We'll face challenges…

Nora: But we wouldn't be here if we weren't ready.

And with that, we started walking East. Before we could make it to Mistral, though, we would have to cross Vale and Anima. Vale would be easy enough. Most of the terrain would be what we've seen before. Anima would be the real challenge.


End file.
